i 


A  STJMMEE 


THE  BORDERS 


rr 


THE  CARIBBEAN  SEA. 


BY  J.  DENNIS  HARRIS. 


WITH   AN   INTRODUCTION   BY 

GEORGE   WILLIAM    CURTIS. 


NEW  YORK: 

A.    B.    BURDICK,    PUBLISHER, 

No.    145   NASSAU   STREET. 

1860. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1S60,  by 

J.DENNIS  HARRIS, 

In  the  clerk's  OfBco  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the  South- 
em  District  of  New  York. 


F 


h. 


ADVEETISEMENT. 


Through  the  columns  of  leading  journals  in  New  York,  St. 
Louis,  and  other  localities,  Ave  have  had  occasion  to  acknowl- 
edge the  fact  that  the  political  views  which  gave  rise  to  the 
present  volume,  though  comparatively  new,  have  generally 
met  the  approval  of  distinguished  statesmen  and  philanthro- 
pists, North  and  South.* 

The  following  note  from  the  venerable  Mr.  Giddings  indi- 
cating the  proposition,  is  but  one  of  a  large  number  which  we 
have  received  from  various  parts  of  the  country : — 

Jefferson,  Ohio,  July  13,  1859. 
My  Dear  Sir  : — I  am  heartily  in  favor  of  Mr.  Blair's  plan 
of  furnisliing  territory  in  Central  America  for  the  use  of  such 
of  our  African  brethren  as  wish  to  settle  in  a. climate  more 
congenial  to  the  colored  race  than  an}"-  that  our  government 
possesses. 
I  hope  and  trust  you  may  be  successful  in  your  efforts. 

Very  truly, 
J.  D.  Harris,  Esq.  J.  R.  GIDDINGS. 

The  subjoined,  respecting  the  work  itself,  is  from  Mr.  Wil- 

*  ?ee  Appcndi.\.  ^ 


393443 


IV  ADVEKTISEMENT. 

liatu  CuUeii  Bryant,  by  whom,  in  addition  to  Mr.  George  W. 
Curtis,  a  portion  of  these  communications  was  reviewed  : — 

Roshjn,  Long  Island,  Au/fust  26,  1860. 
Dear  Sir  : — I  have  looked  over  with  attention  the  letters 
you  left  with  me,  and  return  them  herewith.  It  appears  to 
me  it  will  be  very  well  to  publish  them.  Of  the  Spanish 
part  of  the  island  of  San  Domingo  very  little  is  known — 
much  less  than  of  the  French  part ;  and  the  information  you 
give  of  the  country  and  its  people  is  valuable  and  interesting. 
I  am.  Sir, 

Respectfully  yours, 
Mr.  J.  D.  Harris.  W.  C.  BRYANT. 


CONTENTS. 


LvTRODrcnoN. vil 

DOMINICAN    HE  PUBLIC. 

LETTER    I. 

l?rom  New  York  to  Puerto  de  Plata  —  Smoothness  of  the  Voyage  — 
Uayti  in  the  Distance  —  The  Custom-House  OiBcerSj—  Descrip- 
tion of  the  StandifigjArmy  —  Unparalleled  Scenic  Beauty 13-19 


-r 


/ 

LETTER   II. 

Want  of  Information  —  One  side  of  a  Question  —  The  other  side  — 

Causes  of  the  decline  of  the  Spanish  Colony  —  Subsequent  history    20-30 

;                                       LETTER    III. 
;     Corpus  Christ!  —  The  Farm  of  the  Fugitive  Slave 81-86 

LETTER    IV. 
First  Eide  ia  the  Ooimtry  —  Pastorisft  Place 36-41 


% 


f  LETTER    V, 

Valley  of  the  Isabella  —  Customs  of  tho-Pfiople  —  A  Call  for  Dinner^^   42-50 
/   "" 

LETTER    VI. 
On  the  way  to  Porto  Cabello  —  Antillc- Americana  —  Immigration  Or- 
dinance       51-61 

LETTER    VII. 
Proposed  Amt^ri^nn  SofMoTnont— A  Picture  of  Life  —  Tomb  of  the      ^ 
Wesleyan  Missionary 62-6T 

•   LETTER    VUI. 
>  .Summary  of  Dominican  Staples,  Ejtporte,  and  J^raducta . . ,   ■ C8-T5 


+ 


VI  CONTENTS. 

u E r u }i r, I c  OF  ii a y t I 

niSTORICAL    HKKTCII. 

LETTER    IX. 

State  of  Affaire  previoua  to  1790 t6-83 

LETTER    X. 

Affairs  in  France  —Qase  of  the  Molattoea  —  Terrible  Death  of  Ogi-  and 

Chavlne IT ...'.TTTTT &4-W 

LETTER    XI. 
Tragedy  of  the  Bevolntlon  —  A  Chapter  of  Horrors  (which  the  delicate 

reader  may,  if  he  pleases,  omst) 9S-104 

LETTER    XII. 
Tragedy  of  the  Revolution,  continued  —  Rlgaad  eacceeded  by  L'Ou- 

verture  —  L'Ouverture  duped  by  Le  Clerc  106-115 

LETTER    XIII. 

The  War  Renewed  —  "  Liberty  or  De.ith"  —  Expulsion  of  the  French 

—  Jean  Jacques  Dessalines,  First  Emperor  of  Ilaytl  —  The  Aurora 
of  Peace  —  Principal  Events  up  to  present  date  —  Geffrard  on  Ed- 
ucation  116-12t 

GRAND   TURK'S   AND   CAICOS    ISLANDS. 
LETTER    XIV, 

An  Island  of  Salt  —  Honor  to  the  British  Queen  —  Sir  Edward  Jordan, 

of  Jamaica  —  A  Story  in  Parenthesis  —  The  Poetry  of  Sailing 12S-18t 

BRITISH    HONDURAS. 
LETTER    XV. 

Off  Raatan  —  The  Sailor's  Love  Story  —  Sovereignty  of  the  Bay  Islands 

—  English  vs.  American  View  of  Central  American  Affairs 188-150 

CONCLUSIVE  SUMMARY. 
LETTER  XYI. 

Concise  Description  of  thQ  Spanish  Main  —  Dominicana  Reviewed-^ 

The  magnificent  Bay  of  Samana  —  Conclusive  Sunmiary 151-1^ 

APPENDIX. 

The  Anglo-Afdcan  Empire  —  Opinions  of  distingnished  Statesmen  and 

Philanthropists 161-179 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  free  colored  American,  of  whatever  shade, 
sees  that  his  destiny  is  linked  with  slavery.  Where 
his  face  is  a  crime  he  can  not  hope  for  justice.  In 
the  country  which  enslaves  his  race  he  can  never 
be  an  acknowledged  man.  That  it  is  his  native 
country  does  not  help  him.  The  author  of  this 
book  is  an  American  as  much  as  James  Buchanan. 
He  is  more  so  :  for  the  father  of  Mr.  Buchanan  was 
born  in  Ireland,  and  the  father  of  Mr.  Harris  was 
born  in  North  Carolina.  But  the  one  becomes 
president ;  the  other  is  officially  declared  to  have 
no  rights  which  white  men  are  bound  to  respect. 

The  intelligent  colored  man,  therefore,  as  he  pon^ 
ders  the  unhappy  condition  of  his  race  among  us,  per* 
ceives  that,  even  if  slavery  in  the  Southern  States 
were  to  be  immediately  abolished,  his  condition  would 
be  only  nominally  and  legally,  not  actually,  equal  to 
that  of  the  whites.  The  traditional  habit  of  unques-' 
tioned  mastery  can  not  be  laid  aside  at  will.  Preju- 
dice is  not  amenable  to  law.  There  is  a  terrible  logic 
in  the  slave  system.    For  the  proper  and  safe  subju 


vm  INTRODUCTION. 

gation  of  the  slave  there  must  be  silence,  ignorance, 
and  absolute  despotism.  But  these  react  upon  the 
master ;  and  the  difficulties  and  dangers  of  emanci- 
jiation,  as  the  history  of  Jamaica  shows,  are  found 
upon  the  side  of  the  master  and  not  of  the  slave. 
The  law  might  establish  a  political  equality  between 
them,  but  the  old  feeling  would  survive,  and  would 
still  exclaim  with  the  San  Domingo  planters  when 
the  French  Assembly  freed  the  mulattoes  in  1791, 
"  We  would  rather  die  than  share  our  political 
rights  with  a  bastard  and  deorcncrate  race." 

The  free  colored  man,  wishing  to  help  himself 
and  his  race,  may  choose  one  of  several  methods. 
If  he  dare  to  take  the  risk,  he  may  try  to  recover 
by  force  the  rights  of  which  force  only  deprives 
him.  But  his  truest  friends  among  the  dominant 
race  will  assure  him  that  such  a  course  is  mere  sui- 
cide. In  a  war  of  races  in  this  country  his  own 
would  be  exterminated.  Or  he  may  say  with  Geo. 
T.  Downing,  "  I  feel  that  I  am  working  for  the 
people  with  whom  I  am  identified  in  oppression, 
in  securing  a  business  name  :  I  shall  strive  for  my 
and  their  elevation,  but  it  will  be  by  a  strict  and 
undivided  attention  to  business."  Or  he  may  be* 
lieve  with  Jefferson,  "  Nothing  is  more  certainly 
written  in  the  book  of  fate  than  that  these  people 
[the  colored]  are  to  be  free :  nor  is  it  less  certain 
that  the  two  races  equally  free  can  not  live  in  the 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

same  government.  Nature,  habit,  opinion,  have 
drawn  indissoluble  lines  of  distinction  between 
them." 

This  latter  opinion  is  shared  by  many  intelligent 
public  men  in  this  country,  of  whom  Francis  P. 
Blair,  Jr.,  of  Missouri,  Senator  Doolittle,  of  Wis- 
consin, and  Senator  Bingham,  of  Michigan,  are  the 
most  conspicuous.  They  believe  that  the  emigra- 
tion of  free  colored  people,  protected  by  the  United 
States,  into  some  region  of  propitious  climate  and 
beyond  the  taint  of  prejudice  against  color,  would 
have  the  most  important  practical  influence  upon 
the  question  of  emancipation  in  this  country,  and 
of  the  consequent  restoration  of  the  colored  race  to 
the  respect  of  the  world. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  a  docile  and  amiable  peo- 
ple enslaved  by  nearly  half  the  States, — legally  ex- 
cluded from  many  of  the  rest,  and  everywhere  con- 
temned, should  believe  this,  and  turn  their  eyes 
elsewhere  in  the  fond  faith  that  any  land  but  their 
own  is  friendly. 

The  author  of  this  book  is  of  opinion  that  under 
the  protection  of  the  United  States  government  a 
few  intelligent  and  industrious  colored  families 
could  colonize  some  spot  within  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
or  upon  its  shores,  and  there  live  usefully  and  re- 
spected ;  while  gradually  an  accurate  knowledge  of 
the   advantages   of   such   a   settlement  would   be 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

spread  among  their  friends  in  the  United  States, 
and,  as  they  developed  their  capacities  for  labor  and 
society,  not  only  attract  their  free  brethren  to  follow, 
but  enable  the  well-disposed  slaveholders  to  see 
an  easy  and  simple  solution  of  the  question  which 
so  deeply  ijerplexes  them,  "  What  should  we  do  with 
the  emancipated  slaves  ?" 

JBut  neither  Mr.  Harris  nor  his  friends,  so  far  as 
I  know,  anticipate  the  final  solution  of  the  practical 
problem  of  slavery  by  emigration.  They  do  not 
contemplate  any  vast  exodus  of  their  race ;  for  they 
know  how  slowly  even  the  small  results  they  look 
for  must  be  achieved,  since  the  first  condition  is 
the  protection  of  the  American  government.  Mr. 
Harris  thinks  that  the  island  of  Hayti  or  San  Do- 
mingo, in  its  eastern  or  Dominican  portion,  offers 
the  most  i:)romising  prospect  for  such  an  experi- 
ment ;  and  this  little  book  is  the  record  of  his  own 
travel  and  observation  upon  that  island  and  at 
other  points  of  the  Caribbean  sea.  It  contains  a 
brief  and  interesting  sketch  of  the  insurrection  of 
Toussaint  L'Ouverture,  a  story  Avhich  incessantly 
reminds  every  thoughtful  man  that  slavery  every- 
where, however  seemingly  secure,  is  only  a  sup- 
pressed, not  an  extinguished,  volcano. 

I  commend  the  book  heartily  as  sincere  and 
faithful,  quite  sure  that  it  will  command  attention 
not  only  by  its  intrinsic  interest  and  merit,  but  as 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

another  silent  and  eloquent  protest  against  the  sys- 
tem which,  while  it  deprives  men  of  human  rights, 
also  denies  them  intellectual  capacit}^  I  think  we 
may  pardon  the  author  that  he  does  not  love  the 
government  of  his  native  land.  But  surely  he  and 
all  other  colored  men  may  congratulate  themselves 
that  the  party  whose  principles  will  presently 
control  that  government  repeats  the  words  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  as  its  creed  of  politi- 
cal philosophy. 

GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS. 

New  York,  September  ls<,  1860. 


A   SUMMER 


ON   THE   BORDERS   OF 


THE  CARIBBEAN  SEA. 


LETTER  I. 
I>oiii.iii.ica.ii.  IR epu'blic. 

FROM   NEW  YORK   TO  PUERTO   DEL   PLATA  —  SMOOTHNESS    OF   THE 

VOYAGE  —  HAYTI    IN   THE    DISTANCE DESCRIPTION     OF     THE 

STANDING  ARMY UNPARALLELED   SCENIC   BEAUTY. 


"  Is  John  departed,  and  i8  Lilburn  gone  ? 
Farewell  to  both,  to  Lilburn  and  to  John." 

HCTDIBRAB. 

fT  was  a  mild,  showery  morning  on  the  19th  of 
May,  1860,  that  the  brig  John  Butler,  on 
board  of  which  we  were,  left  her  dock  at  New 
York  and  anchored  off  the  Jersey  Flats.  From 
this  point  we  enjoyed  the  pleasantest  and  decidedly 
most  satisfactory  view  of  the  great  commercial  city 
and  its  environs.  The  many  white-sailed  vessels 
and  finely-painted  steamers  plying  in  and  out  the 
North  and  East  rivers,  and  between  the  bright 
2 


]4  SUM.MKIl    ON    'IHK    CAHIl'.HKAN. 

green  undulating  slopes  of  Staten  and  Long  islands, 
presented  a  picturesque  and  animated  scene,  quite 
in  contrast  with  tlic  dark  walls  and  stately  steeples 
of  the  city  which  arose  beyond. 

More  delightfully  refreshing  nothing  could  have 
been.  Altogether,  the  fine  air  and  characteristic 
scenes  of  New  York  bay  amply  repaid  the  incon- 
venience of  remaining  all  day  in  sight-  of  the  great 
metropolis,  without  being  jostled  in  its  streets  or 
snuffing  the  peculiar  atmosphere  that  pervades  it. 

On  the  morning  of  the  20th  we  sailed  out  of  the 
bay,  passed  Sandy  Hook,  and  were  at  sea.  The 
sky  was  clear,  and  the  ocean  calm.  Betwixt  the 
novelty  of  being  at  sea  for  the  first  time  and  the 
dread  of  that  sickness  which  all  landsmen  fear,  but 
know  to  be  inevitable,  I  was  kept  in  a  state  of  mod- 
erate excitement  which  effectually  annihilated  those 
sentimental  sorrows  which  one  is  expected  at  such 
times  to  entertain.  The  first  vessel  we  met  coming 
in  was  the  Porto  Plata,  from  this  city,  and  owned 
by  a  German  firm  on  the  corner  of  Broadway  and 
Wall  street,  New  York.  Her  cargo,  I  have  since 
learned,  consisted  principally  of  mahogany  and 
hides. 

Our  mornings  were  passed  mostly  in  studying 
the  Dominican  language,  which,  as  nearly  as  I  can 


THE    DOMINICAN    KEFUBLIC.  l5 

analyze  it,  is  a  compound  of  Spanish,  French,  Eng- 
lish, Congo,  and  Caribbean — but,  of  course,  prin- 
cipally Spanish.  The  afternoons  were  spent  in 
fishing,  and  catching  sea-weed,  watching  the  flying- 
iish,  or  in  looking  simply  and  silently  on  the  ever- 
bounding  sea,  which  was  in  itself  an  infinite  and 
unwearying  source  of  irrepressible  delight.  A  com- 
paratively quiet  sameness  characterized  the  voy- 
age. With  bright  clouds  pencilling  the  sunset  sky,  a 
fresh  breeze  stiffening  the  sails,  and  the  ship  gliding 
smoothly  over  the  buoyant  waves,  the  sensations 
were  at  times  exceedingly  exhilarating,  and  even 
supremely  delicious.  But  there  were  no  dead  calms, 
no  terrific  storms.  To-day  was  the  pale  blue  sky 
above,  and  the  deep  blue  ocean  rolling  everywhere 
around ;  and  to-moiTow  the  sky  was  equally  as 
fine,  and  the  same  dark  heaving  ocean  as  bound- 
lessly sublime.  Had  there  been  a  storm,  if  only 
for  description's  sake  ! 

But  the  poetry  ceased.  We  were  now  in  the 
latitude  of  the  regular  trade-winds,  with  which 
every  man  is  supposed  to  be  as  certainly  familiar 
as  he  is  with  a  school-book,  or  the  way  to  church. 
Where  were  tlie  winds  ?  AVanting— from  the  south 
and  east  when  they  should  have  been  from  the 
west,  and  vice  versa.     As  for  their  reputed  regular- 


16  SUMMKR   OX    THE    CAKIBBEAN, 

itj,  they  were  no  more  regular  than  a  sinner  at 
prayers.  Four  successive  days  we  averaged  about 
one  mile  an  hour,  and  this  was  in  the  trade-winds  I 
For  the  honor  of  all  concerned,  however,  I  will  say 
(on  the  point-blank  oatli  of  our  captain)  that  such  a 
thing  never  occurred  before,  and,  as  he  expressed 
it,  "  mightn't  be  again  in  a  thousand  years."  I 
thought  of  an  old  man  who  once  went  travelling,  and 
when  he  returned  he  was  asked  what  he  had  learned. 
He  said,  simply,  "  I  was  a  fool  before,  but  by  trav- 
elling I  found  it  out."  The  astounding  thunder- 
storms you  hear  about  in  the  West  Indies  were  all 
gone  before  we  got  here  ;  so  were  the  whirlwinds. 
After  a  sail  of  twelve  days,  a  long,  dim,  bluish 
outline,  as  of  a  cloud  four  hundred  miles  in  length, 
stood  out  above  the  waves.  Soon,  with  a  glass, 
could  be  distinguished  the  regularly  rising  table- 
lands and  lovely  green  valleys,  the  dark  mountains 
standing  in  the  background.  I  was  at  once  agitated 
with  all  the  anxieties  of  hope  and  fear.  "We  were 
approaching  the  eventful  shores  of  San  Domingo, 
embracing  as  it  does  the  Dominican  and  Haytien 
republics.  But  however  thrillingly  interesting  its 
past  history  may  have  been,  the  practical  question 
was  whether  the  present  state  of  affairs  here  would 
not  be  found  unsatisfi\ctory,  and  the  climate  hotter 


THE   DOMINICAN   REPUBLIC.  17 

and  less  healthy  than  was  desirable,  or  whether  the 
luxuriant  indications  of  OiDulence  and  ease  I  now 
beheld  might  not  prove  to  be  more  captivating 
than  expected,  and  the  climate  even  more  delight- 
fully salubrious  than  I  had  dared  to  anticipate.  I 
watched  the  lingering  sunlight,  wrapping  the  clouds, 
the  mountains,  and  the  sky  into  one  glowing  and 
refulgent  scene,  with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  which  my 
soul  was  capable ;  but  the  sun  went  quietly  down, 
and  the  supper-bell  reminded  me  of  .a  fresh-caught 
mackerel.  The  sun  and  the  land  will  come  again 
to-morrow,  but  the  mackerel  disappeared  forever. 

Morning  did  come,  and  with  it  came  the  pilot 
(black).  We  entered  the  "  port  of  silver"  (Puerto 
del  Plata).  The  harbor  is  a  poor  one  ;  but  if  there 
be  one  thing  on  earth  deserving  the  epithet  "  sub- 
lime," it  is  the  surrounding  scenery.  We  anchored, 
and  there  awaited  the  coming  of  the  custom-house 
officers.  The  officers  came — some  white,  some  colo- 
red— and  with  them  Mr.  Collins,  an  American  gen- 
tleman to  whom  I  was  addressed.  He  received  me 
liberally,  invited  me  to  stop  with  him,  promising  to 
show  me  around  the  country,  introduce  me  to  the 
General,  (black,)  and  do  a  variety  of  other  things  de- 
cidedly un-American,  but  very  gentlemanly  indeed. 

It  was  Saturday  afternoon  when  we  went  ashore. 


18  SUMMER    OX   'HIE    CAHIBBKAN. 

and  it  so  happened  there  was  to  be  a  government 
proclamation.  In  due  time  the  drum  struck  up, 
and  down  came  tlie  standing  army,  looking  for  all 
the  world  like  a  parcel  of  ragamuffin  boys  playing 
militia.  I  counted  them,  and  I  think  there  were 
four  drummers,  two  fifers,  and  two  lines  of  soldiers 
— thirteen  in  a  line.  Some  were  barefooted,  others 
wore  shoes ;  some  of  their  guns  had  baj^onets,  and 
others  none.  The  manner  in  which  they  bore  them 
compared  witli.  the  foregoing  suggestions,  and  so  on 
to  the  end  of  this  ridiculous  scene.  Dominicana 
has  a  government — so  poets  have  empires. 

In  passing  through  the  streets  one  is  compelled 
to  observe  the  non-progressive  appearance  of  every- 
thing around  him.  There  lie  the  unturned  stones, 
just  as  they  were  laid  a  century  ago.  The  houses  are 
generally  built  one  story  high,  with  conical-shaped 
roofs,  for  no  other  reason  than  that  that  is  the 
way  this  generation  found  them.  Mr.  Collins,  who 
is  a  bachelor,  lives  in  an  airy  two-story  house,  with 
a  charming  verandah  running  its  whole  length, cool 
and  delicious,  and  surrounded  by  the  sweetest  fruit- 
trees  outside  of  Eden.  I  found  myself  perpetually 
exclaiming,  "Oh!  what  beautiful,  bright  roses!" 
what  this,  and  what  that,  until  I  felt  shamefully 
convicted   of  mv  own   enthusiastic   ignorance.     I 


THE    DOMINICAN    REPUBLIC.  19 

need  not  repeat  the  traveller's  stor}'-,  for  the  cer- 
tauity  of  exposure  is  sure.  Look  at  a  wood-cut  and 
say  that  you  have  seen  Niagara,  but  don't  read  Har- 
per's pjcture-books  and  suppose  you  have  any 
idea  of  Haytieu  floral  beauty.* 

Of  course  I  have  not  been  here  long  enough  to 
know  whether  it  is  a  fit  place  for  a  man  to  live  in, 
or  for  a  number  to  colonize,  and  I  am  ^^ell  aware, 
when  the  question  of  politics  comes  up,  it  turns  on 
a  very  different  pivot;  but  by  all  that  is  magnifi- 
cent, lovely,  exquisite,  and  delicious  in  its  vegetable 
productions,  I  do  set  it  d(jwn  a  perfect  paradise. 

*  When  the  island  was  discovered  by  Columbus,  it  received  from 
him  the  name  of  Hispaniola — "  Little  Spain."  It  was  afterwards 
called  Santo  Domingo;  but  the  original  name  given  it  by  the 
natives,  and  revived  by  Dessalines,  is  said  to  be  Hayti.  The  Haj'- 
tien  territory,  however,  is  but  about  two-fltths  of  the  island,  the 
greater  part  being  owned  by  the  Dominicans. 


LETTER  II. 

I>oininica.n     XS- e  p  ul)  1  i  c 

WANT    OF    INFORMATION ONE    SIDE    OF    A    QUESTION. 

^t'HERE  is  no  school-boy  but  remembers,  when 
^^  tracing  the  history  of  Columbus  on  his  per- 
ilous voyage  across  the  sea  in  search  of  a  new 
world,  how  eagerly  he  watched  each  favorable  in- 
dication of  bird  or  sea-weed,  and  ultimately  with 
what  rapture  he  greeted  the  joyous  cry  of  land ; 
nor  who,  looking  back  through  the  vista  of  centu- 
ries past,  but  brings  vividly  to  mind  the  landing  of 
Columbus,  the  simplicity  of  the  natives,  the  cupid- 
ity of  the  Spaniards,  and  their  insatiable  thirst  for 
gold.  But  further  than  this — further  than  a  knowl- 
edge of  a  few  of  the  most  striking  outlines  of  the 
earlier  history  of  Hayti,  or  Ilispaniola — there  is 
generally  known  little  or  nothing ;  little  of  the  vi- 
cissitudes and  sanguinary  scenes  through  which  the 
peoples  of  this  island  have  passed  ;  nothing  of  the 
"  easily  attainable  wealth  almost  in  sight  of  our 
great  commercial  cities;"  nothing  of  its  sanitary 


THE  DOMINICAN   REPUBLIC.  21 

districts  peculiarly  conducive  to  longevity.  On  the 
contrary,  erroneous  and  exaggerated  notions  pre- 
vail, tbat  because  it  is  not  within  a  given  circle  of 
isothernml  lines  it  must  necessarily  be  fit  for  the 
habitation  onlj^  of  centipedes,  bugbears,  land-sharks, 
and  lizards.  Indeed,  it  has  been  well  said  there  is 
perhaps  no  portion  of  the  civilized  world  of  which 
the  American  people  are  so  uninformed ;  and,  in 
fact,  so  anomalous  and  apparently  contradictory  to 
the  generally  received  impression  does  everything 
appear,  that  I  almost  despair  of  these  papers  being 
regarded  as  other  than  humorously  paradoxical. 

I  am  standing  now  on  the  line  of  19°  45'  of  north 
latitude,  or  but  20°  15'  south  of  the  city  of  New 
York,  and  but  3°  o£  longitude  east,  a  distance  not 
greater,  I  think,  than  by  river  from  St.  Louis  to  New- 
Orleans,  a  distance  frequently  made  by  steamers 
within  four  days,  and  a  distance  which  may  be  trav- 
elled over  on  railroads  in  the  States  at  the  rate  of 
three  times  a  week !  Yet  there  are  many  persons 
who,  were  you  to  speak  to  them  concerning  this  por- 
tion of  the  American  tropics,  you  would  find,  regard 
it  as  being  somewhere  away  on  the  coast  of  Africa, 
and  the  voyage  hither  long  and  tediously  disagree- 
able.    It  is  in  reality  but  a  small  pleasure  trip. 

This  is  one  side ;  but  the  great  lesson  of  the 
2* 


22  SUMMER    OX   THE    CARIBBEAN. 

world's  experience  is  that  there  arc  two  sides  to 
every  question.  ^ 

THE    OTHER    SIDE. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  may  well  be  asked,  if  this 
be  the  Eden  of  the  New  World,  why  its  flowers 
should  be  "born  to  blush  unseen,"  and  its  "gems 
of  i")urest  ray"  remain  hidden  in  its  hills ;  or,  to 
speak  less  classically,  why  the  country  should  lie 
so  long  a  comparative  terra  incognita,  producing 
generations  of  indolent  men  and  women,  excelling 
only  in  superstition,  idleness,  and  profound  stupid- 
ity. In  the  "  Silver  Port,"  the  port  in  which  we 
entered,  vessels  get  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of 
land ;  then  lighters  take  the  cargo  half  the  remain- 
ing distance,  and  from  thence  ox-carts  convey  it  to 
the  shore,  when  a  comparatively  small  outlay  of  in- 
genuity, capital;  and  labor  would  make  it  a  respect- 
able harbor. 

The  men  generally  dress— those  that  dress  at  all 
— in  cool  white  linen,  Panama  hats,  and  light  gai- 
ter boots.  They  look  nice ;  but  the  red-turbaned, 
often  bare-stockinged,  loosely-dressed  women  are 
shocking. 

"  Know  then  this  truth,  (enough  for  man  to  know,) 
Virtue  alone  is  happiness  below." 


THE    DOMINICAN    REPUBLIC.  28 

Soon  after  we  arrived,  a  dark,  brown-skinned, 
and  as  handsome  a  looking  man  as  I  ever  saw,  came 
on  board  as  watchman.  For  my  particular  benefit, 
I  suppose,  the  captain  inquired  if  he  had  a  wife ;  to 
which  he  replied,  in  broken  Spanish,  "  Two — one  is 
not  a  plenty." 

A  large  portion  of  the  cargo  of  the  vessel  in 
which  I  came  consisted  of  lumber  for  the  erection 
of  a  storehouse.  The  same  vessel  will  be  freighted 
back  with  timber  of  a  superior  quality.  Indeed,  the 
shores  are  lined  with  yellow-wood  and  mahogany  ; 
hul  it  is  not  sawed.  A  gentleman  is  reported  to  have 
built  a  house  in  one  of  the  interior  towns  which 
would  have  cost  in  Northern  Ohio  about  $800,  at  a 
cost  of  $25,000.  Inquire  why  this  is  so — why  this 
listless  inactivity  prevails — and  you  receive  the  an- 
swer, "  Well,  waat  is  the  use  ?"  or,  as  Tennyson  has 
it,  "  Vot's  the  hods,  so  long  as  you're  'appy."  The 
"  apathy  of  despair"  has  not  reached  here,  but  the 
apathy  of  stupidity  is  incurable. 

CAUSES  OF  THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  SPANISH  COLONY. 

I  am  aware  that  many  persons,  among  them  our 
finest  writers  on  "  Civilization — Its  Dependence 
on  Physical  Circumstances,"  attribute  the  cause 
of   the  island's  decline  from  its  ancient  splendor, 


24  SUMMER   ON   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

and  the  consequent  supine  indifference  of  the  natives, 
to  the  effeminating  influences  attending  all  tropical 
climates;  and,  without  prejudice,  I  believe  such 
would  be  very  greatly  the  case  in  a  very  large  por- 
tion of  the  tropical  world ;  but  it  is  a  libel  on  Hay  ti 
'  and  Dominicana.  The  country  is  as  healthy  as  Vir- 
ginia, and,  except  in  its  excessive  beauty  and  fertil- 
ity, resembles  much  the  state  of  North  Carolina. 
"Nobody  dies  in  Port-au- Platte,"  they  say;  but  I 
should  be  sorry  to  find  it  true.  I  trace  the  cause  in 
the  country's  history,  as  I  think  the  following 
brief  glance  will  show,  for  much  of  which  I  am 
indebted  to  W.  S.  Courtney,  Esq.,  and  his  essay  on 
"  The  Gold  Fields  of  St.  Domingo."  We  will  say 
the  civilized  history  of  the  country  began  with  the 
Spaniards  in  1492.  The  inhabitants,  at  the  time  of 
its  discovery  by  Columbus,  were  a  simple-minded, 
hospitable,  and  kind-hearted  people,  the  fate  (un- 
paralleled suffering)  of  whom  I  have  no  disposition 
to  record.  The  studious  reader  of  American  history 
will  shudder  at  the  bare  recollection  of  the  predato- 
ry scenes  and  excessively  inhuman  and  bewildering 
iniquities  of  which  they  fell  the  victims,  and  which, 
if  perpetrated  now  in  any  part  of  the  world,  "  would 
send  a  thrill  of  horror  to  the  heart  of  universal 


THE  DOMINICAN   REPUBLIC.  25 

man,"     Montgomery,  I  think  it  is,  expresses  their 
fate  touchinglj,  and  in  a  nut-shell,  thus  : 


"  Down  to  the  dust  the  Carib  people  passed, 
Like  autumn  foliage  withering  in  the  blast ; 
A  whole  race  sunk  beneath  the  oppressor's  rod, 
And  left  a  blank  among  the  works  of  God  !" 


The  Spanish  colonists  brought  with  them,  of 
course,  the  Spanish  language,  customs,  laws,  and 
religion,  which  language,  customs,  and  religion 
prevail  to  this  day.  They  were  exceedingly  pros- 
perous through  a  long  series  of  years.  They  built 
palatial  residences,  cultivated  sugar  and  tobacco 
farms,  erected  prodigious  warehouses,  established 
assay  ofl&ces,  and  worked  the  mines  on  a  grand  but 
unscientific  scale.  The  mines  are  supposed  to  have 
yielded  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  millions  of  dol- 
lars per  annum,  and  the  exports  of  sugar  and  other 
productions  showed  a  corresponding  degree  of  pros- 
perity. 

In  about  1630  the  island  began  to  decline^ 
The  natives  had  been  driven  and  tortured  to  the 
last  degree,  and  the  heroic  Spaniards  began  to  look 
around  for  other  countries  to  conquer,  other  people 
to  enslave.  They  discovered  Mexico,  Peru,  and 
Brazil.     The  most  glowing  and  captivating  accounts 


\ 


26  SUMMER   ON   THE    CAKJBBEAN. 

went  forth  of  the  incalculable  wealth  of  those  coun- 
tries in  silver  and  gold,  and  multitudes  abandoned 
their  homes  and  haciendas  and  flocked  thitherwards, 
in  the  hope  of  realizing  wealth  untold.  Plantations 
and  mines  that  had  been  producing  immense  rev- 
enues were  abandoned  to  waste  and  desolation,  and 
the  population  of  the  island  was  reduced  one  half 
from  this  one  cause  alone.  Meanwhile,  the  French 
had  established  themselves  on  the  western  part  of 
the  island,  and  the  present  Haytien  territory  was 
ceded  to  France  in  1773. 

The  remaining  Spaniards  introduced  African 
slaves  to  supply  the  place  of  natives,  and  with  this 
labor  they  were  enabled  to  recover  somewhat  of 
their  ancient  thrift.  Soon  after  this,  the  revolt  in 
the  French  portion  of  the  island  occurred,  and  many 
of  the  Spanish  slaves  left  the  territory  to  join  the 
standard  of  their  revolutionary  brethren.  Besides 
this,  whenever  the  French  royalists  drove  the 
revolutionary  forces  back  into  the  mountains,  and 
cut  off  their  supplies,  the  latter  entered  the 
Spanish  territory,  "helped,  themselves  to  what  they 
needed,  destroyed  the  haciendas,  carried  off  cattle 
and  crops,  and  if  they  were  resisted,  as  they  some- 
times were,  they  slaughtered  the  Spaniards  as  they 
do  hogs  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  set  the  cities  on  fire. 


THE   DOMINICAN    REPUBLIC.  27 

and  left  behind  a  grand  but  terribly  universal 
ruin. 

The  history  of  San  Domingo  was  never  com- 
pletely written,  and  if  it  were,  would  never  find  a 
reader.  But  stand  here  on  these  shores,  with  a 
rising  panorama  of  half  the  scenes  enacted  by  these 
revolting  and  infuriated  slaves,  and  there  is  not  a 
planter  in  the  Southern  United  States,  who,  for  all 
the  wealth  Peru,  Mexico,  and  St.  Domingo  could 
produce,  would  be  willing  to  r:turn  home  and  re- 
main there  over  night. 

Finally,  Dessalines,  that  extraordinary  prince  of 
cut-throats,  entered  the  Spanish  territory,  slaughter- 
ed the  French,  laid  waste  the  country  for  leagues, 
carried  off  the  remaining  slaves,  and  so  bewildered 
and  astounded  the  Spanish  residents  that  they 
gathered  up  what  movable  wealth  they  could  and 
left  the  country,  "  some  for  Mexico,  some  for  Peru, 
while  many  returned  to  Spain." 

Such  are  the  principal  and  to  me  satisfactory  caus- 
es which  history  assigns  for  the  decline  of  the 
island's  thrift,  which  had  reached  an  unparalleled 
degree  of  prosperity  and  an  unsurpassed  grandeur 
and  magnificence,  with  a  rapidity  unrivalled  in  the 
annals  of  the  world. 


28  SUMMER   ON   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

SUBSEQUENT   HISTORY. 

For  the  gratification  of  your  many  readers,  I 
will  continue  this  homoeopathic  sketch  of  the  island's 
history  up  to  the  present  time. 

In  1821  the  Dominican  portion  (which  embraces 
about  three-fifths  of  the  island,  but  having,  I  think, 
not  more  than  one-fourth  of  its  population)  de- 
clared itself  independent  of  the  Spanish  crown,  but 
was  shortly  after  subjugated  by  Boyer,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Haytien  Kepublic.  In  1842  a  revolu- 
tion in  Hayti  caused  Boyer  to  flee,  and  Riviere 
assumed  the  presidency.  Two  years  after,  the 
Dominicans  overpowered  Riviere,  and  on  the  27th 
of  February,  1844,  reestablished  their  government, 
or  rather  the  present  government  of  Dominicana. 
The  main  features  of  their  constitution  are,  that 
each  district  or  canton  choose  electors,  who  meet  in 
preliminary  electoral  convention,  and  elect  for  four 
years  the  President  and  other  administrative  offi- 
cers, and  a  certain  number  of  counsellors,  who  con- 
stitute a  congress. 

The  President,  Pedro  Santana,  is  a  mixed  blood 
of  Spanish  and  Indian  descent,  and  is  emphatically 
regarded  as  a  most  estimable  personage.  Baez,  the 
former  President,  is  said  to  be  of  mixed  French 


THE   DOMINICAN   REPUBLIC.  29 

and  African  lineage  ;  in  short,  there  is  no  differ- 
ence on  account  of  color. 

In  18-19,  Solouque,  the  President  of  Ilajti,  con- 
trary to  the  wish  of  many  Ilaytiens,  undertook  to 
conquer  the  Dominicans,  and  bring  them  unwil- 
lingly under  his  despotic  sway.  He  entered  the 
territory  with  five  thousand  men,  but  was  met  at 
Las  Carreas,  and  disastrously  defeated  by  General 
Santana,  "  with  an  army  of  but  four  hundred  men 
under  his  command,"  This  is  the  truth,  or  history 
is  a  lie. 

For  this  brilliant  achievement  Santana  received 
the  title  of  "  Libertador  de  la  Patria,"  and  seems  to 
be  admired,  comparatively  speaking,  after  the  man- 
ner of  our  "  liberator  "  and  Father  of  his  country. 
(Bah  !) 

But  a  small  portion  of  the  Haytiens,  as  I  have 
before  observed,  sympathized  with  President  So- 
louquc  in  his  abortive  attempt  to  carry  out  the 
"  Democratic  "  policy  of  territorial  expansion.  And 
when  General  Geffrard  was  proclaimed  President,  it 
is  said  the  populace  demanded  pledges  that  he 
would  not  pursue  the  policy  of  his  predecessor  in 
this  regard. 

"It  is  not  at  all  probable  that  any  organized 
attempts  of  the  Haytiens  to  recover  possession  of 


30  SL"MMi:ii   ON    THE   CAKIIJBKAN. 

the  Dominican  territory  will  ever  again  be  made  ;  so 
that  henceforth  tliere  will  be  no  more  amioyances  of 
this  sort."  Such  are  the  views  and  opinions  of  emi- 
nent men,  who  liave  given  this  subject  some  atten- 
tion ;*  but  in  the  opinion  of  the  writer,  as  is  gene- 
rally known,  the  destiny  of  the  island  is  union; — 
one  in  government,  wants,  and  interest,  brought 
about  by  the  introduction  of  the  English  language, 
and  by  other  peaceful  and  benignant  mean  ;  such 
language,  wants,  and  interests  to  be  introduced  by 
the  emigration  hither  of  North  Americans, — some 
white,  but  pi'incipally  colored.  England,  France, 
and  many  other  independent  nations  of  the  world, 
have  acknowledged  and  formed  liberal  treaties  with 
the  weak  little  Republic,  but  I  hope  you  do  not 
suppose  the  government  of  the  United  States  could 
be  guilty  of  anything  that  looks  like  generosity. 

God  grant  that  I  may  never  die  in  the  United 
States  of  America ! 

*  Within  fifteen  days  a  disaffection  has  been  discovered  near 
the  Haj-tien  frontiers,  supposed  to  be  the  work  of  Solouque.  So- 
louque  is  an  imitator  of  Napoleon  I.  Napoleon  went  to  Elba^ 
Solouque  to  the  island  of  Jamaica. 


LETTER    III. 

]I>oixiiiiioa.n    li  e  public 

CORPUS   CHRISTI. 

fETWIXT  midnight  and  dayligbt  this  morn- 
ing I  was  lying  sleeping  and  dreaming  under 
the  halcyon  influences  of  the  lingering  land  breezes, 
when  suddenly  a  harmonious  sound  of  partly 
brass  and  partly  string  instrumental  music  rang 
upon  the  air.  It  appeared  just  as  music  always 
does  to  any  one  in  a  semi-transparent  slumber — 
not  quite  awake  nor  yet  asleep — when,  as  every- 
body knows,  it  is  sweet  as  love.  One  boom  from 
the  cannon,  and  I  stood  square  on  my  feet;  and, 
as  it  is  not  very  remarkable  here  to  see  persons 
dressed  in  white, 'the  next  moment  I  was  out  on 
the  verandah. 

There  went  a  jolly  crowd,  promiscuous  enough, 
but  apparently  as  light-hearted  and  hap[)y  as  mor- 
tals get  to  be,  and  which  to  a  slant-browed  contriv- 
ing Yankee  is  a  poser.  They  had  thus  early 
begun  to  celebrate  what  is  called   Corpus   Chrisli. 


32  SUMMEU   ON   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

which,  according  to  all  fair  translation,  I  should 
think  means  Christ's  body.  But  any  thing  about  it 
after  that  I  am  entirely  unable  to  say.  It  would 
seem  to  require  a  good  deal  to  understand  all  the 
Catholic  ceremonies.  Talk  about  their  being  igno- 
rant !  I  never  expect  to  learn  so  much  while  I  live. 
All  business  houses  were  closed  for  the  day,  and 
Dominican,  French,  American,  and  other  colors 
were  flying  from  their  respective  staffs.  Altars 
were  erected  in  various  streets,  with  numerous  can- 
dles burning  within,  and  bedecked  with  parti- 
colored flags  and  flowers.  They  were  really  pret- 
tily and  tastefully  arranged.  In  short,  it  was  an 
American  4th  of  July,  except  this :  to  each  of  these 
altars  marched  the  throng  of  people  headed  by  the 
priest.  The  priest  said  prayers  in  "Greek."  The 
people  understood,  and  all  knelt  down  in  the  street, 
men,  women,  and  children,  but  of  course  principally 
women. 

THE   FARM   OF   THE    FUGITIVE   SLAVE. 

A  party  of  us  went  out  to  see  Mr.  Smith,  a  fugi- 
tive slave,  whose  energy  and  well-directed  enterprise 
had  attracted  some  attention  heretofore.  He  is  not 
so  fine  looking  a  man  as  I  expected  to  see.  He  is 
under  five  and  a  half  foet  in  height,  limps  a  little, 


THE   DOMINICAN    EKFLBLIC.  33 

and  is  altogether  but  little  in  advance,  to  use  a  most 
contemptible  Americanism,  of  his  "kind  of  people" 
in  the  States.  He  speaks  no  Spanish,  and  for  that 
matter  very  little  English ;  but  he  has  a  will  of  his 
own,  and  a  determination  to  do  something,  which 
gives  him  an  advantage  over  half  a  dozen  persons 
who  go  to  school  to  lose  their  common  sense. 

Mr.  Smith  was  a  slave  in  South  Carolina ;  was 
brought  by  sea  to  Key  West,  and  there  hired  out 
to  work  for  a  Eepublican  government.  He  and 
some  other  of  his  fellow-slaves,  including  his  wife, 
.took  sail-boat,  set  sail,  and  after  suffering  almost 
incredibly  from  sea-sickness  and  want  of  food, 
finally  reached  New  Providence,  which  he  had  pre- 
viously learned  to  be  an  English  colony.  He  pro- 
ceeded to  declare  his  intention  to  become  a  British 
subject,  and  went  to  work ;  but  wages  being  low, 
he  concluded  to  remove  to  Dominicana  and  go  to 
farming.  He  purchased  a  piece  of  land  near  the 
town  of  Porto  Plata,  and  with  the  assistance  of  his 
"help-mate,"  (which  in  this  country  means  a  wife,) 
soon  cleared  the  land  of  its  tropical  undergrowth, 
and  planted  it  in  corn  and  potatoes.  In  breaking 
up  the  ground  he  used  a  plow,  a  startling  innova- 
tion here,  but  which  produced  most  salutar}^  results. 
A  neighbor  of  his  has  since  bought  one.     So  great 


34  SUMMKK    UN    TIJK    CARIBBKAX. 

was  the  yield  of  Mr.  Smilb*&,nd  his  wife's  crop  that 
in  little  more  than  a  year's  time  they  have  a  house 
and  forty  acres  of  land  all  paid  for,  and  a  new  crop 
worth  over  five  hundred  dollars,  which  will  soon  be 
ready  for  market. 

This  may  not  seem  very  remarkable  to  any  one 
who  has  never  seen  a  sand-hill,  nor  yet  been  to 
Canada ;  but  to  me  it  is  a  miracle.  My  object  in 
mentioning  this  fact,  however,  is,  to  state  that  Mr. 
Smith  also  planted  a  few  seeds  of  Sea-Island  cotton, 
the  product  of  which  has  been  sent  to  New  York 
and  pronounced  worth  14c.  per  pound.  Now, 
there  are  numbers  of  colored  men  recently  from 
the  Southern  States  skilled  in,  and  some  who  have 
made  small  fortunes  by,  the  cultivation  of  cotton, 
at  perhaps  not  more  than  eight  or  nine  cents  per 
pound,  when,  too,  it  had  to  be  replanted  every  year. 
It  produces  here  without  replanting  almost  indefi- 
nitely, but  it  is  safe  to  say  seven  years. 

The  query  is  this :  give  half  a  dozen  such  men  as 
Smith  a  cotton-gin  ($350),  send  them  out  here,  and 
would  they  not  accomplish  more  for  the  elevation 
of  the  colored  race  by  the  successful  cultivation  of 
cotton,  in  eighteen  months,  than  all  the  mere 
talkers  in  as  many  years  ? 

The  meanest  thing  I  have  been  obliged  to  do, 


THK    DOMINICAN    REFLBLIC.  35 

and  llie  greatest  sin  I  have  committed,  has  been 
the  registering  my  name  as  an  American  citizen. 
I  presented  myself  to  the  United  States  consul 
(whose  son  and  derk,  by  the  way,  is  a  mulatto). 
The  nice  correspondence  of  Mr.  Marcy  was  pro-  • 
duced,  not  with  any  evil  intent  at  all,  but  just  to 
show  what  indefinable  definitions  there  are  between 
colored  and  black  and  white  and  negroes  as  Ameri- 
can citizens.  I  should  like  to  find  out  how  a  man 
Icnoivs  he  is  an  American  citizen !  There  are 
members  of  Congress  who  can  no  more  tell  this 
than  they  can  tell  who  are  their  fathers. 

As  for  Mr.  Corwin's  talk  about  enforcing  the 
laws,  he  may  thank  Heaven  if  he  is  not  yet  arrested 
as  a  fugitive  slave. 

Since  the  above  was  written,  I  understand  the 
courts  of  Virginia  have  decided  that  an  Octoroon 
is  not  a  negro.  Now,  then,  if  an  octoroon  is  not  a 
negro,  is  an  octoroon  a  citizen  ?  And  if  an  octo- 
roon is  not  a  negro,  is  a  quadroon  a  negro  ? 


LETTE  R  IV.  '^ 

I>oininioa.n    Republic. 

FIRST    RIDE    IN    TRK    COUNTRY — PASTORISA    PLACE. 

..  (^  YANKEE  is  known  by  the  shortness  of 
j^V  his  stirrups;"  so  they  say  here,  and  I  do 
not  know  that  the  criticism  is  at  all  too  se- 
vere. Except  Willis  and  one  or  two  others,  who  of 
the  Americans  know  any  thing  about  riding  ?  The 
Dominicans  are  good  on  horseback.  In  fact,  it  is 
their  boast  that  they  can  ride  or  march  further  in 
two  days  than  Americans  want  to  go  in  a  week. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  "  Los  Yankees"  had  this 
country  they  would  soon  fix  it  so  that  a  man  could 
go  over  it  all  before  the  Dominicans  got  breakfast. 
Seiior  Pastorisa,  (of  the  firm  of  Pastorisa,  Collins 
&,  Co.,  formerly  of  St.  Thomas,)  who  married  a  na- 
tive, is  mounted  on  a  cream-colored  horse,  (cost 
$300,)  and  wears  behind  him  a  sword  in  a  silver- 
gilt  case.  Every  male  person  wears  a  sword  of 
some  kind,  even  though  it  prove  to  be  as  useless  as 
an    old   case  knife.      It  is  an  old,  superannuated, 


THE   DOMINICAN   REPUBLIC.  37 

hundred-years-behind-the-age  custom ;  yet  in  some 
instances  serves  as  their  Court  of  Appeals,  No  one 
disturbs  you,  and  you  are  expected  to  be  as  well 
behaved  ;  but  if  not,  the  difl&culty  is  generally  set- 
tled at  the  sword's  point,  and  there  it  ends.  How 
magnanimous  even  is  this  rude  mode  of  settling 
disputes  when  compared  to  that  of  the  one-sided, 
blaspheming,  defrauding  den  of  thieves  called  a 
court  of  justice  in  the  States!  Coming  from  a  land 
where  men  kill  each  other  without  warning,  instead 
of  a  sword  which  I  would  not  know  how  to  use, 
I  buy  a  pair  of  holsters  for  horseman's  pistols,  throw 
them  across  the  saddle,  and  am  ready. 

Now  there  may  be  no  pistols  in  these  holsters,  of 
course,  but  what  is  the  difference  so  long  as  they 
are  supposed  to  be  there  ?  I  take  it  as  one  of  the 
grand  lessons  which  the  world's  history  teaches, 
that  men  are  far  more  afraid  of  supposed  and  imag- 
inary dangers  than  of  those  they  know  to  be  real. 
The  number  of  backsliding  sinners  and  snake-story 
witnesses  are  innumerable. 

We  were  now  at  the  base  of  the  St.  Mark's  moun- 
tain, which  rises  just  back  of  the  town  of  Porto 
Plata.  The  so-called  road  was  no  road  at  all, 
There  were  little  narrow  trenches  running  between 
the  rocks,  fit  for  pack-mules,  but  scarcely  wide 
3 


393443 


88  SUMMER   ON   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

enough  to  allow  one's  feet  to  pass.  Up  the  moun- 
tain wc  came  poco  a  poco.  AVhile  passing  these 
rocks  the  sun  poured  down  with  an  intensity  not 
previously  experienced.  But  I  had  never  been 
an  alderman,  and  was  not  fat  enough  to  melt ;  in 
deed,  it  might  as  well  have  shone  on  a  pine  knot. 
Ere  long  the  sun  hid  behind  a  cloud,  the  thunder 
muttered  a  little,  but  pretty  soon,  as  if  by  way  of 
repentance,  there  came  a  restorative  shower  of  tears. 
(Thank  Heaven !  the  nigger  question  vanquished 
the  sun.)  Nothing  is  so  calculated  to  make  a  man 
vain  as  a  mountain  shower.  You  enjoy  its  inef- 
fable sensations  yourself,  while  below  you  behold 
the  poor  valley  fellows  sweating  in  the  sun.  Or  it 
may  be  they  are  drowning  wet  below,  and  you 
basking  in  the  clear  sunshine  above.  Either  "way, 
you  are  bound  to  rejoice  and  to  look  with  contempt 
on  the  silly  ones  who  make  themselves  miserable  by 
regretting  and  whining  over  things  that  are  in 
themselves  unalterable,  and  need  no  change.  The 
wise  repine  not. 

Over  the  mountain  and  beside  a  stream,  with 
limes  scattered  plentifully  around,  we  stop  a  mo- 
ment for  refreshment.  Lemonade  is  cheap,  one 
would  think ;  the  limes  are  as  free  as  the  water. 
Had  nature  furnished  the  sweetening  as  well,  we 
should  have  had  a  river  of  lemonade. 


THE   DOMINICAN   REPUBLIC.  39 

•Here  country  settlements  begin  again,  called  cs- 
iancias,  which,  if  3^ou  will  get  a  blackboard  and  a 
piece  of  chalk,  I  will  explain.  Mark  off,  say  four 
acres  of  land,  clear  it  up — let  the  fruit-trees  stand, 
of  couise — enclose  it,  but  plant  nothing  therein.  In 
the  centre  of  this  piece  erect  a  shanty.  This  much 
is  called  a  conuco.  Now  go  through  the  woods, 
sa}^  a  mile  and  a  half,  clear  up  four  acres  more  and 
plant  tobacco.  The  next  year  or  two  this  will  be 
gone  to  weeds  ;  you  then  (not  knowing  the  use  of 
a  plow)  go  another  half  mile,  clear  up  another 
piece  and  plant  a  new  crop.  The  old  place  has 
gone  to  wreck,  the  new  place  is  in  its  vigor ;  but 
neither  is  in  sight  of  the  house.  This  together  is 
called  an  estancia,  and  I  should  have  said  before 
meant  a  farm,  but  it  does  not  mean  a  farm  in  Eng- 
lish by  a  good  deal.' 

At  this  point  we  leave  the  "road,"  and,  under 
full  gallop  half  the  while,  take  through  the  wood, 
guided  by  a  dim  path  which  winds  over  the  hills 
and  down  the  dales  with  as  careless  an  indiscrimi- 
nation as  ever  road  was  trodden  by  a  prairie  herd. 
L'Ouverturc's  feats  or  Putnam's  celebrated  escape 
would  do  to  read  about,  but  this  was  reducing  the 
thing  to  practice. 

Five  miles'  gallo})  over  a  level  \)]-d\u  —  thirty 


40  SUMMEK   ON    THE   CARIBBEAN. 

miles  in  all — 'and  wc  have  reached  Pastorisa  Place : 
it  is  a  perfect  Arcadia. 

During  leisure  moments  I  shall  probably  look 
back  to  this  day's  ride  and  to  these  enchanting 
scenes  as  one  of  the  "gilt  letter"  chapters  of  my 
life  ;  but  at  present,  after  a  bath,  the  rapidity  with 
which  fried  plantains,  pine-apple  syrup,  and  scorch- 
ed sweet  milk  will  disappear,  would  do  a  dyspeptic 
Northerner  good  to  see  ! 

The  property  comes  by  Sefiora  Pastorisa.  She 
is,  perhaps,  five-and-twenty.  Her  eyes  are  as  bright 
and  dark  as  even  Lord  Byron  could  have  wished 
them  to  be.  Her  complexion  is  that  of  a  clear  ripe 
orange.  The  place  is  extensive,  containing  say 
nineteen  thousand  acres,  in  a  valley  five  miles  wide, 
fenced  in  on  either  side  by  a  spear  of  mountains, 
with  a  limpid  stream  running  through  the  centre. 
Mockiug-birds  enliven  every  thing ;  parrots  and 
paroquettes  go  around  in  droves,  screaming  and 
squawking  like  a  very  nuisance.  Back  of  the  house 
is  a  grove  appropriated  to  honey-bees.  They  swarm 
on  every  log.  (There  were  certainly  over  one  hun- 
dred swarms.)  Honey  is  considered  of  but  little 
value  anywhere  in  the  mountains,  and  is  often 
wasted  in  the  streams,  the  wax  only  being  pre- 
served. This  comes  of  having  pack-mules  and 
goat-paths  instead  of  wagons  and  wagon -roads. 


THE   DOMINICAN   REPUBLIC.  41 

Senor  Pastorisa  had  informed  me  before  of  his 
desire  to  quit  the  town  and  improve  his  farm. 
All  he  needed  was  men  who  understood  farming 
on  the  American  plan.  He  has  a  plow,  and  in- 
tends harnessing  an  ox  to-morrow  to  try  the  ex- 
periment of  plowing.  Now,  it  is  clear  that  to  plow 
the  ground  very  successfully  he  will  need  at  least 
a  yoke  of  oxen — which  he  has,  all  but  the  yoke. 
This  I  would  undertake  to  make,  though  I  never 
did  such  a  thing  in  my  life,  and  always  had  a  hor- 
ror of  an  ox-yoke,  anyway ;  but  lo !  there  are  no 
tools.  So  Senor  Pastorisa  needs  hands,  but  with  a 
very  little  a  priori  reasoning  it  will  be  seen  there 
are  other  things  needed  quite  as  much.  One  is  a 
road.  There  is  a  natural  outlet  to  the  valley — there 
must  be.  The  stream  before  the  door  makes  to- 
wards the  Isabella  river.  The  Isabella  empties  into 
the  sea,  of  course. 

I  forgot  to  say  Senora  Pastorisa  is  "  a  little  ting- 
ed"— the  handsomest  woman  in  the  world. 


LETTER  V. 
Dominica,!!  Itcpnblic. 

VALLET   OF   THE   ISABELLA CUSTOMS   OF   THE    NATIVES CHAP- 
TER  ON   SNAKES— A   CALL   FOR   DINNER. 

"  Know  ye  the  land  where  the  cypress  and  myrtle 
Are  emblems  of  deeds  that  are  done  in  their  clime ; 
Where  the  rage  of  the  vulture,  the  love  of  the  turtle, 
Now  melt  into  sorrow,  now  madden  to  crime  ; 
Where  the  flowers  ever  blossom,  the  beams  ever  shine. 
And  all  save  the  sjiirit  of  man  is  divine?" — Bybos. 

fHERE  had  been  one  or  two  invigorating  show- 
ers previous  to  our  ride  down  the  valley  of 
the  Isabella,  and  so  there  remained  a  great  deal 
of  slippery  clay  along  the  narrow  pathways,  which 
paths  lay  usually  on  the  very  verge  of  some  moun- 
tain slope,  embankment,  or  more  exciting  preci- 
pice. To  have  come  off  with  only  one  or  two 
bones  broken,  I  should  have  been  perfectly  satis- 
fied. 

"We  forded  the  river  with  impunity,  crossed  and 
recrossed  it  again,  and  finally  came  to  as  level  a 
bottom  plain  as  wheel  ever  rolled  on.  The  valley 
of  the  Isabella  is  as  handsome  as  a  park. 


THE   DOMINICAN    KEPUBLIC.  43 

The  river  itself  is  not  so  large  as  Longfellow's 
"  Beautiful  River,"  but  it  is  much,  more  deserving 
the  name.  Apro^jos,  every  old  homestead  has  its 
particular  title,  such  as  the  "  ]\[ocking-Bird,"  "  Ilum- 
ming-Bird,"  "  CrebahunJa,"  and  a  variety  of  others 
for  which  there  is  no  adequate  translation.  The 
legends  attending  them  are  frequently  the  most 
exquisite. 

Considering,  therefore,  the  remarkable  history, 
exquisite  legends,  and  extraordinary  traditions  of 
the  country,  I  am  bound  to  say,  should  there  be 
sufficient  emigration  in  this  direction  to  produce  a 
poet  of  the  Hiawatha  school,  I  should  be  sorry  for 
the  laurels  of  Mr.  Longfellow.  There  are  one  or 
two  parts  of  "  Hiawatha,"  however,  for  which  I 
hope  to  retain  a  relish. 

The  houses  and  cultivation  along  our  way  are  in 
keeping  with  the  estancias  before  described.  The 
men  are  comparatively  neat  in  appearance,  find 
them  where  you  will.  The  women  are  frequently 
good-looking,  but  seldom  spirited.  The  prevail- 
ing question  seems  to  be,  How  low  in  the  neck 
can  their  dresses  be  worn  ?  and  the  answer  is.  Very 
low  indeed !  White  Swiss  is  worn  as  dress,  and 
when  seen  on  a  handsome  woman  is  like  Balm  of 
Gilead  to  the  wounded  eye.     The  wife  does  not 


44  SUMMER  ON    THE   CARIBBEAN. 

usually  eat  at  the  table  with  her  husband.  She  sees 
that  his  baths  are  ready,  and  at  times  even  that  his 
horse  is  fed,  and  at  meal-times  either  takes  her  plate 
on  her  lap  or  awaits  the  second  table.  This  is  not 
from  want  of  respect  on  the  part  of  either;  it  is 
their  stupid  custom.  Should  "  los  Americanos" 
ever  run  a  stage-coach  up  this  valley,  and  two  or 
three  of  these  fellows  have  to  climb  on  top  for  the 
sake  of  giving  one  lady  an  inside  seat,  they  will 
comprehend  somewhat  better  for  whose  conven- 
ience the  world  was  made. 

June  14/A. — Senor  Pastorisa  fell  ill  to-day,  and  is 
now  lying  in  a  hammock.  This  gives  me  an  op- 
portunity to  extol  the  hammock,  which  is  too  ex- 
cellent a  thing  to  pass  unnoticed.  It  consists  mainly 
of  a  net- work  of  gras_s,  netted  something  like  a  seine, 
twice  the  length  of  a  person  or  more,  and  fastened 
at  the  ends  with  cords  sufficiently  strong  to  hold 
the  weight  of  any  one.  These  cords  are  tied  to 
the  limb  of  a  tree  or  the  rafters  of  a  house,  and 
there  you  swing  as  happy  as  any  baby  ever  rocked 
in  a  tree-top.  It  is  sufficiently  light  to  be  carried  in 
saddle-bag,  and  is  altogether  indispensable. 

The  senor's  fever  is  also  my  excuse  for  pencilling 
down  notes  more  minutely  than  I  otherwise  should. 
I  can,  of  course,  give  you  a  description  of  but 


THE   DOMINICAN   REPUBLIC.  45 

few  things  singly.  The  palm-tree  ought  to  be 
one.  This  remarkable  tree  grows  without  a  limb, 
smooth  and  regular  as  a  barber-pole,  from  forty 
to  sixty  feet  high.  At  this  point  it  turns  sud- 
denly green,  and  puts  out  two  or  three  shoots. 
Around  these  grow  its  berries,  which  are  used  for 
fattening  pork.  Each  of  these  shoots  furnishes 
monthly  a  rare  peel  or  skin,  which  is  used  for 
covering  houses,  for  packing  tobacco,  and  for  mak- 
ing bath-tubs,  trays,  and  other  articles  of  household 
furniture.  The  body  of  the  tree  is  used  for  weath- 
er-boarding. It  rives  like  a  lath,  the  inside  being 
pithy,  somewhat  like  an  elder.  Its  leaves  are 
twelve  feet  long,  and  bend  over  as  gracefully  as  an 
arch.  In  the  centre  of  the  top  springs  out  a  single 
blade,  like  the  staff  of  a  parasol.  This  was  made 
(one  would  think)  for  mocking-birds  to  dance  on. 
The  most  useful  tree  in  the  world,  its  usefulness  is 
excelled  by  its  own  beauty. 

The  valley  of  the  Isabella  is  a  grove  of  palms. 

One  cannot  but  remark  how  preposterous  are  the 
snake  stories  which  the  vulgar  relate  respecting 
the  West  Indies  and  tropics  generally.  The  world 
docs  not  contain  anotlier  thing  so  brazenly  desti- 
tute of  the  least  common  sense.     In  all  this  ram- 


4:6  SUMMEK   ON   THE   CARIBBEAN". 

bling  through  the  woods,  over  the  liills,  and  along 
the  streams,  the  most  harmful  thing  I  have  seen  is 
a  honey-bee — not  even  a  dead  garter-snake ! 

While  on  board  a  vessel  off  the  coast  one  day,  a 
sailor  threw  overboard  a  hook  and  line,  and  in  the 
course  of  time  caught  a  young  shark.  It  was  as 
wicked  a  little  thing  as  I  ever  saw,  and  strong  as  a 
new-born  giant.  The  sailor  struck  it  over  the  head 
with  a  stick,  when  it  snapped  the  hook  and  flounced 
around  the  vessel.  In  short,  he  killed  it,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  dress  it  for  breakfast. 

"  Going  to  cat  a  shark  ?"  I  inquired. 

"Why  not?" 

"  Good  heavens  !  I  thought  they  were  the  worst 
things  in  the  world." 

"  You  eat  duck,"  said  he  ;  "  what's  nastier  than 
a  duck  ?     Shark's  clean — swims  in  a  clean  sea." 

I  afterwards  tasted  a  piece :  it  was  coarse,  and  the 
idea  that  its  mother  might  some  day  eat  me,  made 
the  thing  disgusting ;  but  it  learned  me  a  lesson  I 
shall  not  very  soon  forget.  An  Irishman  is  afraid 
to  go  to  America  on  account  of  its  frogs  ;  a  French- 
man makes  a  dish  of  them.  One  man  eats  rats,  and 
another  cats. 

Now,  to  suppose  there  were  no  reptiles  whatever 
in  the  country,  or  none  peculiar  to  its  bays  and 


THE   DOMINICAN   REPUBLIC.  47 

inlets,  would  be  simply  absurd  ;  and  when  we  get 
to  the  coast,  I  should  be  sorry  to  miss  seeing  some 
lazy  old  crocodile  sunning  in  the  sand.  Should  it 
have  seven  heads,  however,  I  shall  very  likely 
catch  it,  and  send  it  straight  to  Barnum;  but  if 
not,  why,  as  Banks  would  the  Union,  let  the  snaky 
thing  slide. 

Your  "  Allergater  in  de  brake"  song  may  do  for 
the  Southern  States,  with  their  rhythmetical-and- 
stolen-from-the- African-coast  slaves ;  but  to  apply 
it  to  this  country  would  disgrace  the  most  idiotic 
"  What-is-it "  ever  imported.  Of  naturally  wild 
quadruped  animals  there  is  not  so  much  as  a  squir- 
rel.    Birds  are  without  number. 

Stanley  is  himself  again !  One  and  a  half  hours' 
ride,  two  fords  of  the  river,  (rising,)  and  we  are  at 
the  mouth  of  the  famous  Isabella.  The  river  is 
here,  but  the  town  of  Isabella  has  passed  away  for- 
ever. The  delta  is  covered  with  mahogany  tim- 
bers; two  schooners  stand  out  in  the  distance 
awaiting  to  transport  them  to  Europe ;  and  with 
these  exceptions— and  with  these  alone,  unless  it  be 
the  absence  of  the  Indians— were  Columbus  to 
arrive  here  again  to-day,  he  would  not  find  a  par- 
ticle more  of  improvement  than  was  found  here 


48  SUMMER  ON  TITE   CARIBBEAN. 

over  three  centuries  and  a  lialf  ago.  A  boat  load 
of  oarsmen  coming  down  tlie  river,  the  captain 
leading  in  a  song,  and  all  liands  joining  in  the 
chorus  ;  a  splash  is  heard  on  the  other  side  of  the 
water,  as  if  broken  by  a  fish  or  clumsy  sea-turtle  ; 
but  except  these  sounds  a  death-like  stillness  per- 
vades the  entire  valley. 

To  get  a  better  view,  you  must  cross  the  promon- 
tory (the  northernmost  point  of  the  island)  to 
where  Columbus  first  landed.  From  thence  you 
see  the  Haytien  frontier  stretching  away  in  the 
dim  blue  distance,  and  the  scene  is  enchantment. 

Over  the  rocks  we  go,  led  on  by  a  Spaniard  on  a 
little  bay  mule,  that  climbs  over  the  cliffs  \\'ith  an 
agility  creditable  even  for  a  mountain  goat.  The 
senor's  horse  falters.  One  misstep,  and  they  both 
go  to  eternity ! 

We  are  on  the  beach.  My  zeal  to  commemorate 
the  landing  of  Columbus  by  gathering  a  few  tiny 
tinted  shells  reconciles  the  senor  to  sit  in  the  sun 
and  hold  my  horse  for  a  minute ;  but  I  have  no 
doubt  he  had  rather  see  me  as  expert  at  gathering 
peas  or  picking  up  potatoes.  "  Ah !  H.,"  says  he, 
"  leave  off  writing  books  and  gathering  shells ;  get 
married,  and  come  to  farming."  So  I  will — all  but 
the  married. 


THE  DOMINICAN  REPUBLIC.        49 

But  you  will  want  to  know  what,  after  all,  is  the 
matter  with  the  port.  It  is  shallow.  Vessels  of  a 
hundred  tons  burthen  cannot  get  within  as  many 
rods  of  a  harbor.  In  fact,  the  only  question  is, 
why  a  man  of  Columbus'  sense  ever  stopped  there 
at  all.  It  is  not  worth  the  pen  and  ink  it  would 
take  to  describe  it. 

CALLED  AT   THE   FIRST   HOUSE   FOR  DINNER. 

"  Come,  let  the  fatted  calf  be  slain,"  was  com- 
plied with  to  the  very  letter,  except  that  in  this 
instance  it  happened  to  be  a  goat.  Nevertheless,  it 
was  worth  the  return  of  any  prodigal  son. 

The  largest  "  senorita  "  had  a  dress  to  make  up. 
It  was  a  piece  of  light  blue  delaine,  and  to  her,  no 
doubt,  was  "superb."  She  left  off  assisting  the 
old  patriarch  in  dressing  the  goat,  walked  to  the 
pitcher,  took  the  cocoanut  dipper,  and  filled  her 
mouth  with  water  until  her  cheeks  swelled  out  like 
a  porpoise's.  She  then  deliberately  spirted  it  into 
her  hands ;  and  this  was  her  mode  of  washing ! 
She  then  spreads  out  her  dry-goods,  admires  them  a 
while,  folds  them  up  again,  and  lays  them  aside. 

The  four,  and  even  six  year  old,  running  about 
the  place,  were  as  innocent  of  even  a  shirt  as  any 
son  of  Adam  at  his  coming  into  the  world. 


50  SUMMER  ON   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

We  look  out  into  the  open,  slab-sided  kitchen, 
and  see  old  and  young  sitting  around  on  the  dirt 
floor,  enjoying  a  meal  of  fresh  goat,  winter  squash, 
and  plantain  stewed  together. 

Our  dinner  is  over ;  we  bid  these  folks  good-bye, 
and  pronounce  them  the  happfest  set  of  miserably 
contented  mortals  the  sun  ever  shone  upon.  Man 
needs  excitement;  he  prays  for  ease. 

We  return  to  Pastorisa  Place  to  spend  the  Sab- 
bath. Two  or  three  days  of  rest,  and  we  start 
fresh  again  for  Porto  Cabello. 

So  ends  the  week — one  at  least  in  my  life  for 
which  it  was  worth  the  trouble  to  have  lived. 


LETTER  Vl. 
Dominican  Repntolic. 

ON      THE      WAY    TO    PORTO    CABELLO — ANTILLE-AMERICANA EMI- 
GRATION   ORDINANCE. 


"  Here  in  my  arras  as  happy  you  shall  be, 
As  halcyon  brooding  on  a  winter  sea." 

— Dktdbn. 

^^^HEN  the  saffron  sunlight  lingers  on  the  fleecy 
"W  edges  of  these  mountain  clouds,  there  is  a 
singular  solemnity  and  peculiar  fascination  atout 
them  which  can  not  be  likened  to  any  thing  earth- 
ly. More  than  any  thing  else,  the  resemblance  is 
that  of  a  dark  mourning-gown,  lined  with  white 
satin  and  trimmed  with  silver  tassels. 

This  reminds  me  that  the  sign  of  mourning  here 
is  somewhat  novel.  It  is  that  of  a  spotless  white 
kerchief  worn  on  the  head — a  thing  rarely  seen, 
however,  for  the  reason  that  people  in  this  district 
rarely  die  except  from  sheer  old  age.  There  is 
near  us  an  old  man  (black)  whose  entire  grey  hair 
and  bodily  appearance  indicate  Ids  being  at  least 
eighty.     His  father  died  only  a  year  ago,  and  for 


52  SUMMER  ON   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

some  time  before  the  aged  sire's  death  it  is  said  that 
fires  had  to  be  kindled  for  him  to  sleep  by,  in  order 
to  generate  sufficient  heat  to  keep  his  thin,  chilly 
blood  in  circulation.  Ilis  age  was  beyond  his  own 
knowledge. 

But  the  great  object  of  life  here  seems  to  be 
that  of  eating.  The  first  thing  in  the  morning  after 
leaving  your  hammock,  you  are  furnished  with  a 
dish  of  aromatic  coffee,  strong  and  excellent  as  a 
beverage,  and  as  little  like  the  ordinary  stuff  you 
get  at  hotels  as  pure  rich  cream  is  like  chalk  and 
water.  Bah  I  think  of  your  dish-wat€r  slops,  made 
of  parched  peas,  and  supposed  to  be  "West  India  cof- 
fee !  Oh  I  nation  of  Barnums  and  egregious  dupes ! 

Where  circumstances  allow  it,  not  an  hour  in  the 
day  passes  without  something  being  brought  in  to 
be  eaten.  "  This  is  an  alligator  pear — must  be  eat- 
en with  salt  and  pepper."  Now  it  is  honey,  pine- 
apple, mango,  orange,  banana,  and  even  a  joint  of 
sugar-cane — anything  to  be  eating.  You  are  then 
expected  to  eat  as  hearty  a  dinner  as  ought  to  satisfy 
a  man  for  a  week.  Ride  a  mile  and  a  half  and  you 
are  asked  if  you  are  not  hungry.  You  reply, 
"No,  indeed."  Cross  the  next  stream,  and  "Are 
you  not  thirsty?"  is  asked.  Say  "  No,  indeed " 
again  if  you  like,  and  you  will  be  very  lucky  not  to 


THE   DOMINICAN   REPUBLIC,  53 

hear  your  admirable  self  inelegantly  compared  to 
some  kind  of  a  goat. 

The  climate  of  these  mountains  seems  to  be  that 
of  perpetual  spring,  88°  Fahrenheit  being  the  warm- 
est da}'-  we  have  had  so  far.  T  understand,  however 
that  in  September  the  heat  is  much  more  oppressive 
because  there  are  more  calms,  but  never  so  intoler- 
able as  in  the  changeable  latitudes.  Sunstroke ! 
You  might  venture  the  reputation  of  half  a  dozen 
"speakers"  (a  trade  which  is  had  in  the  States  for 
tlie  picking  of  it  up)  that  such  a  thing  as  sunstroke 
would  not  be  felt  here  until  the  world  has  wheeled 
as  many  years  backward  as  it  has  forward. 

We  are  trotting  along  on  the  way  to  Porto 
Cabcllo.  I  liave  given  you  a  description  of  these 
valleys  before,  but  passing  a  grove  of  rose-apples 
just  now,  (a  fruit  highly  prized  in  the  West  Indies 
simply  for  its  flavor,  the  tree  being  much  like  that 
of  a  lime,  and  the  fruit  hollow,  something  like  a 
May-apple,  lustrous  as  an  orange,  and  flavored  pre- 
cisely as  a  rose  is  perfumed,)  I  could  but  reflect 
tliat  if  another  Eve  were  to  be  placed  in  an  earthly 
garden  I  should  pray  that  it  might  be  somewhere 
among  the  hills  of  New  England,  for,  doubtless, 
then  she  would  meet  temptation  with  a  masterly  re- 


54  •       SUMMER   ON   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

sistance  ;  but  if  placcl  in  such  a  garden  as  might  be 
made  in  this  country, — witli  all  the  sins  of  the  world 
before  her  I  fear  she  would  be  tempted  over  again 
a  thousand  times. 

Stop  a  moment  on  an  elevated  point  of  a 
homestead  called  "  Crebehunda;"  behold  the  grand 
valleys  stretching  away  between  the  mountain 
chains  until  lost  in  the  green-blue  sea  which  the 
glass  shows  in  the  distance.  Dodging  under  branch- 
es, going  sometimes  head-first  through  the  eternal 
verdure  wliich,  if  possible,  grows  even  more  lux- 
uriant, in  this  way  we  ultimately  reach  Porto 
Cabcllo,  a  place  which  proves  to  be,  as  previously 
understood,  the  grandest  point  for  a  port  of  entry 
on  the  whole  northern  coast  of  the  island. 

These  old  Spaniards  are  all  the  time  saying  to  me, 

"  My  son,  you  never  look  pert." 

**  Perfectly  happy,  uncle,"  I  reply. 

"Look  long  time  away — studying." 

"  Nothing,  uncle — only  an  American." 

"Only  an  American?  Well,  what  do  they  dif- 
ferent from  other  people  ?" 

"La}'^  out  towns  one  day,  and  build  them  the 
next ;  own  lands,  and  improve  them." 

Now,  this  is  genuine  American  talk  ;  whether  it 
will  be  American  practice  remains  to  be  seen. 


THE   DOMINICAN   REPUBLIC.  55 

Porto  Cabello  is  now  used  to  some  extent  as  a 
point  of  export ;  but  the  only  reason  why  it  is  not 
used  more  extensively  is,  that  between  this  and  tlie 
valley  there  is  a  hill  to  be  crossed,  which  could  be 
made  respectable  as  a  highwa}^  by  six  sturdy  hands 
in  as  many  days.  The  country  is  ripening  for  immi- 
gration. Mr.  James  Redpath,  a  talented  English- 
American,  and  a  most  acute  observer,  recently  trav- 
ersed a  portion  of  the  Haytien  territory,  and  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  entire  island  was  capable 
of  sustaining  20,000,000  people.  There  is  not  upon 
it  probably  one  million,  and  of  these  the  greater 
portion  are  in  Hayti.  The  Dominican  territory,  by 
far  the  most  extensive  and  desirable,  does  not  con- 
tain much  over  one-fourth  of  a  million,  all  told. 

I  say  the  country  is  ripening  for  immigration.  The 
Pike's  Peak  fever  will  ere  long  be  exhausted.  Then 
there  is,  probably,  no  more  promising  field  for  enter- 
prise than  this  in  the  entire  new  world.  Most  any 
point  could  be  made  to  flourish  by  the  opening  of 
good  roads.  With  Porto  Cabello  this  is  peculiarly 
so.  Santiago  is  the  principal  interior  town.  It  is  the 
proper  place  for,  and  was  the  former  capital.  It  is 
situated  on  the  river  Yaque,  which  courses  La  Vega 
Real,  (the  Royal  Plains,)  and  contains  about  12,000 
inhabitants.     The  trade  of  Porto  Plata  is  kept  alive 


56  SUMMER   ON  TIIK   CARIBBEAN. 

mainly  from  this  source ;  but  the  mountainous  road 
between  them,  over  which  nothing  can  be  trans- 
ported except  by  piecemeal  on  horseback,  has  been 
well-nigh  the  ruin  of  them  both.  Porto  Cabello  is 
sixteen  miles  west  of  Porto  Plata.  It  shuns  the 
St.  Mark's  mountain,  and  it  is  fair  to  suppose  that, 
could  communication  once  be  established  between 
this  and  Santiago,  and  were  there  the  least  facilities 
here  for  shipping  produce,  the  trade  of  the  interior 
would  inevitably  flow  in  this  direction.  As  to  the 
shipping  interest,  it  was  that  which  first  turned  our 
attention  hither;  for  Porto  Plata  being  an  unsafe 
harbor  for  the  winter,  vessels  had  been  known  to 
make  this  port  for  safety.  There  are  nine  feet  of 
water  on  the  shallowest  bar,  and  this  once  over 
there  are  two  quiet  bays,  in  either  of  which  a  mer- 
chantman could  ride  without  an  anchor. 

There  will  be  an  American  settlement  up  this 
valley, — the  nucleus  where  I  now  stand,  and  this 
their  port  of  entry.  Such  a  settlement  would  meet 
the  encouragement  of  Senor  Pastorisa,  and,  as  I 
have  reason  to  believe,  of  the  natives  generally. 
They  have  no  labor-saving  machines,  which  is,  be- 
yond all  question,  what  the  country  most  needs. 
Think  of  a  community  like  this  getting  on  without 
a  plow,  a  cotton-gin,  a  saw-mill,  or  anything  of  the 


THE   DOMINICAN    REPUBLIC.  57 

kind.  It  is,  verily,  astounding.  There  is,  of  course 
— and  it  is  certainly  natural  enougli — a  lingering 
prejudice  against  white  Americans.  This  may  or 
may  not  be  overcome  ;  but  the  natural  question  is, 
Are  colored  men  in  America  competent  to  infuse 
the  spirit  of  enterprise  which  the  country  demands  ? 
Lei  the  common-sense  working-men  ansiver.  My  ex- 
perience with  your  "  leading"  would-be-white-imi- 
tating upstarts  is  conclusive. 

The  route — and  a  cheap  one — is  from  New  York 
to  Porto  Plata.  Agricultural  implements  are  ad- 
mitted duty  free.  I  send  herewith  an  important 
communication,  showing  the  disposition  of  the  gov- 
ernment towards  immigration.  It  is  easy  to  see 
that  (if  carried  into  effect)  it  will  mark  a  new  epoch 
in  the  country's  history. 

But  before  this  question  is  taken  into  the  debating 
rooms — that  is,  the  pulpits — for  discussion,  it  ought 
to  be  understood.  If  people  read  Homer's  poetic 
descriptions  of  imaginary  scenery,  and  come  here 
expecting  to  find  them  realized,  they  will  be  fully 
as  nluch  disappointed  as  they  deserve.  There  are 
times  when  the  clouds  rise  slowly  over  the  moun- 
tain height,  with  a  blazing  sun  at  their  backs,  when 
the  skies  glow  with  a  splendor  transcending  all 
conception ;  yet  it  is  not  at  all  likely  they  will  see 


58  SUMMER   ON   TIIK   CARIBBEAN. 

these  mountains  "  go  bobbing  'round,"  or  "  nod- 
ding," to  suit  the  convenience  of  anybody.  ISfust 
mountains  necessarily  rest  their  exalted  heads 
against  the  bosom  of  the  sky,  as  if  holding  constant 
tiie-d-iile  communion  witli  the  stars  ?  If  so,  there 
are  no  moyntains  herc-^nothing  but  potatoe-ridges. 
Nor  will  they  be  blindly  dazzled  by  the  excessive 
resplendence  of  the  sun  or  moon  ;  nor  will  the  moon 
make  silver  out  of  anything  upon  which  it  may 
happen  to  shine.  Moonshine  is  moonshine,  I  sup- 
pose, the  world  over.  American  poets,  however, 
may  be  read  with  impunity. 

"This  is  the  land  where  the  citron  scents  the  gale  ; 
Where  dwells  the  orange  in  the  golden  vale; 
Where  softer  zephyrs  fan  the  azure  skies ; 
Where  myrtles  grow,  and  prouder  laurels  rise." 

IMMIGRATION  ORDINANCE. 

The  following  is  a  translated  copy  of  an  impor- 
tant official  paper  published  in  San  Domingo  city, 
June  9th,  and  proclaimed  in  Porto  Plata,  June  28, 
1860: 

"  Antonio  Abad  Alfare,  General  of  Division,  Tice 
President  of  the  Republic,  and  entrusted  with  the 
executive  power,  looking  at  the  necessity  which 
exists  for  facilitating  the  execution  of  the  laws  con- 
cerning immigration,  defining  the  manner  of  mak- 


THE   DOMINICAN   REPUBLIC.  59 

ing  effective  the  measures  which  the  governmeut 
may  take  for  their  observance,  the  council  of  Minis- 
ters having  heard,  has  come  to  issue  the  following 
ordinance : 

"Aet,  1.  That  there  be  constituted  a  Board  of 
Immigration  in  each  capital  of  a  province,  and  in 
the  qualified  ports  of  Samana  and  Puerto  Plata. 
These  shall  be  composed  of  four  members  named 
by  His  Excellency,  among  those  most  friendly  to  the 
progress  of  the  country,  of  the  Governor  of  the 
provincial  capital,  or  the  Commandant-at-Arms  in 
the  communes,  who  shall  be  the  president  of  them. 
Their  secretaries  shall  also  be  of  said  commission. 

"Art.  2.  These  Boards  shall  meet  at  the  seat  of 
government  in  the  provincial  capital,  and  in  the 
communes  of  Puerto  Plata  and  Samana,  at  the 
Commandant-at-Arms.  For  their  internal  ordering 
and  the  more  ready  fulfilment  of  that  which  is  as- 
signed them,  they  shall  regulate  that  which  they 
have  to  do  according  to  utility,  first  submitting  it 
for  approval  to  the  Minister  of  the  Interior. 

"Art.  3.  The  functions  of  the  Board  are:  First? 
to  learn  the  easiest  and  cheapest  way  of  bringing 
immigrants  to  the  country,  always  communicating 
everything  to  the  President  tlirough  the  Minister 
of  tlie  Interior.     Second,  to  cm}>loy  all  means  lead- 


60  SUMMER   ON   TUK   CARIBBEAN. 

ing  to  the  result  that  there  shall  only  corne  as  immi- 
grants the  agricultural  class,  or  those  following 
some  craft,  profession,  or  useful  form  of  labor;  to 
get  information  of  lands  belonging  to  the  nation 
most  suitable  for  health  and  fertility ;  to  have  them 
prepared  to  furnish  to  farmers  who  may  not  have 
been  able  to  agree  with  private  individuals  under 
the  terms  of  their  contracts ;  to  assign  them  lodg- 
ings and  sustenance  after  their  arrival,  during  a 
period  to  be  agreed  on,  and  to  look  after  them 
with  all  the  attention  and  care  which  it  shall  be 
possible  to  display ;  to  supply  them  with  tools  and 
other  articles  of  use  which  it  may  be  decided  to 
furnish  to  them,  and  with  the  first  stock  of  seed- 
corn  for  their  sowing,  taking  care  that  everything 
be  of  the  best  quality ;  to  take  care  that  those  who 
agree  with  private  persons  shall  be  under  a  con- 
tract which  insures  the  fulfilment  of  that  which 
has  been  agreed  with  them ;  to  attend  to  all  things 
which  can  give  credit  to  this  department  as  well 
within  as  without  the  Republic. 

"Art.  4.  The  Board  shall  appoint  agents  for  the 
furnishing  of  victuals  to  those  who  shall  be  needy, 
taking  care  that  in  every  thing  there  be  exactness, 
order,  and  good  faith. 

"Art.  5.  All  accounts  of  expenses  which  may 


THE   DOMINICAN   KEPUBLIC.  61 

actually  be  incurred  must  be  examined  and  ap- 
proved by  the  Board,  and  submitted  to  the  inspec- 
tion of  the  Minister  of  the  Interior. 

"  Art.  6.  The  office  of  member  of  the  Board  is 
honorary,  and  without  pay,  and  they  shall  perform 
their  functions  two  years.  Those  who  perform  with 
zeal  and  patriotism  their  trust,  will  be  entitled  to 
the  esteem  and  consideration  of  their  fellow-citi- 
zens. 

"Art.  7.  The  present  ordinance  will  be  prompt- 
ly executed  by  the  Ministers  of  the  Interior,  Police, 
and  Agriculture. 

"  Given  at  St.  Domingo  City,  the  capital  of  the 
Republic,  the  4th  day  of  June,  1860,  and  the  17th 
year  of  independence. 

'A.  Alfau. 

"Countersigned,  the  Minister  Secretary  of  State, 
in  the  departments  of  justice  and  education,  charged 
with  those  of  the  interior,  police,  and  agriculture. 

"Jacinto  de  Castro." 


LETTER    VII. 

I>o»niii  i  can    Hepnl^lic- 

PROPOSED     AMERICAN     SETTLEMENT — PICTURE    OF   LIFE — TOMB    OF 
THE   WESLEYAN   MISSIONARY. 


"  Thy  promises  are  like  Adonis'  garden — 
That  one  day  bloomed,  and  fruitful  were  the  next" 
j;  — Kufo  Henby  VI. 

HAVE  scarcely  time  to  inform  you  of  an  Amer- 
ican settlement  really  begun.  It  is  near  the'sea, 
not  far  from  Porto  Plata,  on  a  large  commonality 
or  tract  of  land  embracing  about  twelve  square 
miles,  (not  twelve  miles  square,)  having  a  water 
power  running  full  length.  The  laud  being  in  com- 
mon is  considered  of  the  first  importance,  for  by  this 
means  a  small  outlay  of  capital — say  one  hundred 
dollars — secures  to  the  settler  the  grazing  advantage 
of  the  whole  tract,  where  not  otherwise  in  use.  This 
idea  was  suggested  by  an  eminent  gentleman  of  St 
Louis,  and  has  been  the  custom  of  early  settlements 
in  Spanish  colonies  for  centuries  past.  It  will  of 
course  be  subdivided  whenever  desired,  each  man 


THE   DOMINICAN  REPUBLIC.  63 

taking  the  part  he  had  originally  improved.  The 
princijial  settlers  are  from  Massachusetts,  one  of 
whom,  a  Mr.  Treadwcll,  (colored,)  designs  establish- 
ing a  manual-labor  school.  Another,  a  Mr.  Locke, 
(white,)  who  came  out  for  his  health,  has  actually 
secured  a  mill  site,  erected  a  small  shanty,  and  clear- 
ed from  twelve  to  twenty  acres  of  land,  as  prepara- 
tory steps  towards  building  a  saw-mill.  How  hap- 
py will  be  the  effect  of  such  enterprise  on  a  non- 
progressive people  you  have  probably  anticipated 
from  what  I  have  previously  observed. 

The  manual-labor  school  is,  without  question,  the 
only  mode  of  infusing  a  tone  of  morality  in  the 
country,  or  giving  a  foothold  to  the  Protestant  re- 
ligion. This  has  been  tried.  About  twenty  years 
ago  a  society  of  Wesleyan  Methodists  established  a 
mission  in  the  town  of  Porto  Plata.  The  church 
still  lives,  and  is,  by  foreigners,  comparatively  well 
^attended ;  but  they  have  not  converted  a  single 
Catholic  by  preaching  from  that  day  to  this.  The 
reason  is,  the  Catholics  will  not  go  to  hear  them. 
Yet,  for  the  benefits  of  an  education,  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  children  were  sent  rogularly  to  school, 
and  there,  by  the  "infidel"  teachings  of  <JieWcsley- 
ans,  they  soon  learned  to  distrust  the  ceremonies  of 
their   mother   church.     Unfortunately,  about  two 


64  SUMMER  ON   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

years  since  this  school  was  discontinued^  and,  hav- 
ing succeeded  in  weaning  the  people  from  positive 
Catholicism  without  yet  embracing  the  Protestant 
religion,  it  seems  to  have  left  them  with  a  general 
belief  in  every  thing,  which  is,  as  I  take  it,  the 
nearest  point  to  a  belief  in  nothing. 

The  country  around  Porto  Plata  is  owned  almost 
entirely  by  the  Catholic  church,  being  leased,  through 
the  government,  at  reasonable  rates  to  such  persons 
as  desire  to  settle  thereupon ;  but  by  establishing  a 
school  at  a  distance  of  seven  miles,  as  above  indi- 
cated, it  would  be  entirely  free  from  all  such  influ- 
ences. An  English  missionary  is  soon  to  come  over 
from  one  of  the  neighboring  islands  to  give  the  lo- 
cation his  personal  inspection. 

The  sea  view  is  divine.  Along  the  shallow  edges 
the  rippling  waves  appear  brightly  green — greener 
than  the  trees — while  beyond  this,  where  the  water 
deepens,  the  hue  is  a  pearly  purple — purer  purple 
than  a  grape.  In  fact,  the  earth  does  not  contain  a^ 
comparison  for  the  tranquil  beauty  of  this  transpa- 
rent sea.  Some  hours  ago  I  thought  to  sketch  it 
for  you,  lest  it  should  prove,  like  so  many  other 
things,  too  fine  to  last ;  but  so  it  continued  hour  af- 
ter hour,  and  until  the  sun  nestled  in  its  very  heart. 

So  much  for  the  future  settlement.     It  may  be 


THE   DOMINICAN   REPUBLIC.  65 

called  "Excelsior,"  but  at  present  I  will  call  it 
"  Crebahuuda." 

This  cool  morning  air  nearly  chills  me.  You 
take  a  bath  and  retire  to  bed  at  night  with  onl}^  a 
thin  linen  sheet  spread  over  you.  In  the  morning 
you  are  chilled,  and  resolve  to  sleep  hereafter  under 
more  covering;  but,  of  course,  when  night  comes 
again  you  do  not  need  any  more. 

Not  a  morning,  my  dear  H.,  do  I  look  upon  these 
fields  of  living  green  but  that  I  think  of  you  and 
your  daily  routine  of  office  duties.  I  take  a  seat 
beneath  one  of  these  forbidden-fruit  trees  while  the 
land  breeze  is  freighting  the  valley  with  perfume, 
the  sun  just  peeping  over  the  hills,  and  the  white 
mists,  beautiful  as  a  bridal  veil,  slowly  rising  up  the 
mountain  green;  now  listening  to  the  voice  of  a  fa- 
vorite mock-bird,  and  then  to  the  softer  cooings  of 
a  mourning-dove.  A  strange-looking  little  hummy 
perches  on  the  first  dead  limb  before  me.  Parrots 
squawk,  and  a  dozen  blackbirds  chime  one  chorus, 
while  other  varieties  chirp  and  trill.  The  whole 
scene  is  El3^sian.  Then  along  comes  a  sparrow- 
hawk,  and  choo-ee !  choo-ee !  choo-ee  !  off  they  all 
go,  helter-skelter. 

Of  whom  is  this  a  picture?     You  are  toiling 


66  SUMMER   ON    THE   CAIUliBEAN. 

away,  arranging  rude  manuscripts,  at  times  al- 
most discouraged,  but  still  toiling  on  in  your  xjlose, 
hot  rooms — and  this  for  the  good,  of  your  race. 
Well,  Heaven  grant  they  may  thank  you  for  it,  and 
save  you  from  crying  at  last,  "  Choo-ee !  choo-ec ! " 
But,  ah ! — even  worse  than  that — I  am  afraid  the 
sparrow-hawks  will  catch  you  !  With  me,  the  end 
of  every  thing  is  that  of  the  birds — a  melancholy 
aggravation.  I  have  been  entranced  by  these  morn- 
ing scenes  but  a  passing  short  while,  and  will  soon 
be  compelled  to  leave  them  and  take  a  lonely  ride 
to  the  coast,  thence  to  depart  for  a  season.  I  there- 
fore stuff  my  saddle-bags  with  oranges  and  cinna- 
mon-apples, as  I  think  this  is  wiser  than  weeping. 

An  absence  of  precisely  four  weeks,  and  we  are 
once  again  in  sight  of  Porto  Plata.  "  The  moon  is 
up,  and  yet  it  is  not  night."  Some  kind  of  a  holi- 
day being  at  hand,  men,  women,  and  children  are 
riding  to  and  fro  up  and  down  the  streets  on  don- 
keys, mules,  and  ponies  of  every  description.  The 
scene  is  truly  picturesque.  I  could  but  remark  to 
ray  friend  the  Protestant  exhorter,  the  grandeur  of 
the  evening,  to  which  he  replied,  "A  man  that  could 
find  fault  with  this  climate  would  find  fiiult  with 
Paradise."      I  do  not   believe  him,  however,  for 


THE  DOMINICAN   REPUBLIC.  67 

whether  the  day  and  night  trips  along  the  coast 
have  been  too  much  for  me  or  not,  I  have  certainly 
got  the  chill-fever. 

This  morning,  July  7th,  I  visited  the  tomb  of  the 
Wesleyan  missionary  to  whose  labors  here  I  have 
before  referred.  The  following  inscription  will  fur- 
nish the  data  to  such  of  your  readers  as  are  inter- 
ested in  the  history  of  such  missions  : 

IN     MEMORY 
OF  THE 

REV.    WM.    TOWER, 

WHO    WAS    BORN   AT   HORNCASTLE,    LINCOLNSHIRE,    ENGLAND,  ON 
THE    12th   FEBRUARY,    1811,    AND   ENTERED    UPON 
THE   MISSIONARY   WORK   OF   EVANGE- 
LIZING   THIS    ISLAND    IN 
1838. 
HE   LABORED   ON   THIS   STATION    FOURTEEN   YEARS   AND  A    HALF. 
HE  WAS  BELOVED  BY  ALL  WHO  KNEW  HIM;    AND 
DIED   ON   THE   25tH   OF   AUGUST, 
1853, 
UNIVERSALLY    REGRETTED. 


LETTER    VIII. 
Dominican      Hcpn't>lic. 

SUMMARY   OF   STAPLES,    EXPORTS,    AND    PRODUCTS. 

4^  ^  CAME  across  a  copy  of  Rousseau  this  mom- 
^5  ing,"  said  an  Americaa  scholar,  whom  we 
had  met  before;  and  he  added,  "I  should  not 
have  been  more  surprised  had  I  seen  it  drop  out  of 
the  clear  sky." 

There  are  but  very  few  books  in  Dominicana  of 
any  kind,  and  no  reliable  statistics.  The  govern- 
ment on  the  south  side  of  the  island  appoints  cus- 
tom-house officers  on  the  north  side,  allowing  them 
little  or  nothing  for  their  services.  The  conse- 
quence is,  these  officers  pay  themselves  out  of  the 
import  duties,  and  hence  few  returns  are  accurately 
made. 

In  the  essay  on  the  "  Gold  Fields  of  St.  Domin- 
go,"* to  which  I  have  previously  referred,  I  find 
the  following  summary  of  staples,  exports,  and  pro- 
ducts, which,  while  it  is  but  little  more  than  the 

*  Published  by  A.  P.  Norton,  New  York. 


THE   DOMINICAN   REPUBLIC.  69 

reader  will  have  already  gathered,  may   serve   at 
least  to  confirm  what  has  been  said  : 

"  The  chief  products  of  the  Dominican  part  of 
the  island  are  now  mahogany,  tobacco,  indigo,  su- 
gar, hides,  bees- wax,  cocoa-nuts,  oranges,  lemons, 
.some  coffee  and  some  fustic,  satin  and  many  other 
kinds  of  wood ;  but  the  trade  in  those  articles  now 
is  not  very  considerable.  There  is  a  vast  quantity 
of  mahogany  in  the  territory,  standing  in  groves  on 
the  mountains  and  the  plains,  and  scattered  over 
the  valleys  and  along  the  rivers  and  streams.  The 
best  mahogany  in  the  West  Indies  grows  on  this 
island.  Some  of  these  groves  and  trees  are  truly 
magnificent,  growing  straight  and  to  a  gTcat  height. 
The  best  is  now  found  inland,  as  it  has  been  nearly 
all  already  stripped  off  the  coasts  and  cut  away  from 
near  the  mouths  of  the  principal  rivers  and  around 
the  bays,  where  it  was  more  accessible  and  of  easier 
and  cheaper  carriage  to  market.  It  has  been  exten- 
sively used  for  building  purposes  by  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  cities,  more  especially  by  those  of  the 
interior,  the  lumber  now  used  in  the  coast  cities 
being  carried  thither  from  the  States,  and  ex- 
changed for  mahogany  and  other  products.  It  is 
only  of  late  years  that  the  best  mahogany  cuts  have 
begun  to  come  to  market,  as  heretofore  they  were 
4* 


70  SUMMER   OX   THE   CAKIJiHKAX. 

canicd  to  Europe,  where   they  brought  a  better 
price. 

"  Tobacco  is  now  one  of  the  principal  exports. 
But  little  of  it,  however,  finds  its  way  to  this  mar- 
ket. There  is  a  large  quantity  of  it  raised  by  the  res- 
idents on  the  Spanish  part  of  the  island,  particular- 
ly about  Santiago,  on  the  Royal  Plains,  and  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Maccrere.  It  is  brought  down  in 
bales  or  ceroons  on  mules  to  Port  Platte,  and  ship- 
ped on  board  Dutch  bottoms  to  Holland  and  the 
Germanic  states.  There  is  also  some  cultivated 
about  St.  Domingo  City  and  around  the  Bay  of 
Samana.  But  the  cultivation  and  traflS.c  in  this 
commodity  compared  with  what  it  might  be,  were 
those  fertile  plains  and  rich  savannahs  settled  by  an 
industrious  and  enterprising  people,  is  scarcely  as  a 
drop  to  the  bucket.  There  are  regions  in  the  ter- 
ritory where  tobacco  can  be  grown  equal  to  the 
best  Havana  brands,  and,  on  account  of  the  fecund- 
ity of  the  soil,  with  even  much  less  labor. 

"  There  are  still  some  good  sugar  plantations  in 
the  Dominican  territory,  chiefly  about  St.  Domingo 
City  and  to  the  west  as  far  as  Azua,  but  they  are 
'  few  and  far  between.'  The  best  sugar  is  now  pro- 
duced in  the  region  about  Azaa  and  Manuel,  and 
is  of  a  very  superior  quality.     The  country  people 


THE   DOMINICAN   REPUBLIC.  7l 

cultivate  and  manufacture,  each  on  his  owa  ac- 
count, and,  in  his  small  way,  pack  it  in  ceroons  and 
carry  it  down  to  the  coast  on  mules.  Indeed,  the 
term  'cultivate'  is  not  appropriately  used  in  this 
connection,  as  the  cane  grows  up  wild  and  sponta- 
neously from  season  to  season,  and  from  year  to 
year  in  many  places,  and  the  inhabitants  have  noth- 
ing whatever  to  do  but  cut  and  grind  it  in  wooden 
mills  and  boil  day  after  day.  The  writer  is  not 
informed  that  they  use  the  sugar- mills  in  use  in 
other  sugar-growing  countries  in  their  operations. 
It  is  easy  to  conceive  what  a  source  of  incalculable 
wealth  the  culture  of  this  staple  there  would  be- 
come, if  in  the  hands  of  a  skilful  and  enterprising 
population. 

"  The  trade  in  hides^  compared  with  other  pro- 
ducts, is  quite  important,  which  arises  from  the  fact 
that  a  majority  of  the  population  pursue  grazing 
for  a  livelihood,  and  the  rapidity  with  which  stock 
increases  and  the  little  care  required  in  preserving 
it.  Owing  to  the  heat  and  abundant  oxygen  which 
the  atmosphere  contains,  the  flesh  of  the  beef,  un- 
less properly  salted  and  cured,  keeps  but  a  day  or 
two,  so  that  the  inhabitants  are  obliged  to  kill  al- 
most every  other  day.  This  now  keeps  up  and 
supplies  the  traffic.    Perhaps  three-fifths  of  the  pop- 


72  suMMEit  ON  iiiK  (;Ai<innp:AN. 

ulation  of  the  interior  country  and  towns  are  now 
engaged  in  grazing. 

"  Compared  also  with  other  sta}jlcs,  the  trade  in 
bees-wax  is  eonsiderable.  The  island  producing  the 
greatest  quantity  and  variety  of  flowering  plants, 
shrubs,  and  trees,  bees  exist  there  in  incalculable 
and  immense  swarms.  The  prairies  of  the  West  in 
June  furnish  no  parallel  to  the  flowers  that  perpet- 
ually unfold  on  these  mountains,  plains,  and  valleys. 
The  writer  has  been  informed  by  a  gentleman  who 
recently  visited  Dominica  [Dominicana],  that  so 
strong  and  rank  was  the  odor  from  the  flowers  in 
passing  over  the  Royal  Plains,  that  it  so  jaded  his 
olfactories  as  to  cause  his  head  to  ache,  and  almost 
made  him  sick.  The  swarms  build  in  the  rocks,  in 
the  trees  and  logs,  under  the  branches,  and  even  on 
the  ground.  Those  who  pursue  this  branch  of  busi- 
ness collect  the  deposits  in  tubs,  wash  out  the 
honey  in  the  brooks  by  squeezing  the  combs,  and 
afterwards  melt  the  wax  into  cakes,  or  run  it  into 
vessels  preparatory  to  carrying  it  to  market.  Those 
engaged  in  this  vocation  are  chiefly  women.  The 
trade  in  this  article,  however,  bears  no  proportion 
to  its  production  and  abundance.  They  have  re- 
cently begun  to  save  some  of  the  honey,  and  a  small 
quantity  of  it  has  found  its  way  to  this  msirket. 


THE   DOMINICAN    REPUBLIC.  73 

The  reason  why  it  has  not  been  hitherto  saved  is 
owing  to  the  great  cost  of  vessels  to  collect  it  in,  as 
wooden-ware  of  all  kinds  has  to  be  taken  there 
from  the  States. 

"  There  are  some  exports  oi jcocoa-nuts,  oranges^ 
lemons^  limes^  and  other  fruit,  all  of  which  are  both 
cultivated  and  grow  wild  in  vast  abundance  on  the 
island,  and  are  not  excelled  by  any  in  the  Antilles, 
or  on  the  Spanish  main.  The  labor  necessary  to 
collect  them,  prepare  them  for  shipment,  and  carry 
them  to  the  ports  is  not  there.  From  this  cause, 
indeed,  the  whole  Spanish  end  of  the  island  lan- 
guishes in  sloth,  and  its  transcendent  wealth  goes 
year  after  3^ear  incontinently  to  waste.  ^ 

"  There  is  some  coffee^  which  grows  wild  in  abun- 
dance through  the  island  and  on  the  mountains,  and 
is  collected  and  shipped.  After  the  abandonment  of 
the  coffee  plantations,  the  trees  continued  to  grow 
thick  on  tliem,  and  finally  spread  into  the  woods 
and  on  to  the  mountains,  where  they  now  'grow 
wild  in  great  quantities.  Lacking  the  proper  cul- 
ture, its  quality  is  not  the  best,  but  the  climate  and 
soil  is  capable  of  producing  it  unexcelled  by  any  in 
Porto  Rico  or  any  of  the  West  Indies  or  Brazil. 
The  writer  is  informed,  however,  that  there  are  a 
few  coffee  plantations  under  culture  about  St.  Do- 


74  SUMMER   ON  THE   CARIBBEAN. 

mingo  City.  The  labor  of  cultivating  cofifee  and 
sugar  iu  Dominica  [Dominicanu],  with  all  the  mod- 
ern appliances  of  civilization,  would  be  absolutely 
insignificant  compared  with  the  rich  returns  it 
would  bring  the  planter. 

"  In  addition  to  the  staples  and  exports  above- 
mentioned,  the  island  produces  a  vast  number  of 
other  valuable  commodities,  among  which  we  may 
make  notable  mention  of  its  lumber  and  different 
varieties  of  valuable  wood  other  than  mahogany. 
The  pitch  or  yellow  pine  grows  in  vast  abundance 
at  the  head  of  the  streams  and  on  the  mountains, 
dark  and  apparently  impenetrable  forests  of  which 
cover  their  sides  and  tops.  This  lumber,  with  very 
little  expenditure  of  labor  and  capital,  could  be 
brought  down  the  streams  during  their  rises  almost 
any  month  in  the  year,  to  the  principal  cities. 
When  the  reader  is  made  acquainted  with  the  stub- 
born fact  that  all  the  lumber  used  on  the  north 
side  of  the  island,  except  the  little  mahogany  that 
is  sawed  there  and  at  and  about  St.  Domingo  City, 
is  carried  there  at  great  cost  from  the  States,  and 
sold  at  a  price  fabulous  to  our  lumber-dealers  here, 
he  will  measurably  comprehend  the  undeveloped  re- 
resources  of  Dominica  [Dominicana]  in  that  interest 
alone.     Pine  lumber  sells  at  Port  Platte  for  $60  per 


THE    DOMINICAN   REPUBLIC.  75 

thousand  feet.  It  has  then  to  be  carried  back  to 
Santiago,  Moco,  and  La  Vega  on  mules,  where  it 
sells  for  $100  per  thousand,  while  those  mountains 
and  the  banks  of  their  streams  stand  thickly  clothed 
with  it,  in  its  majestic  and  sublime  abundance  I 
There  is  but  one  saw-mill  on  the  Spanish  end  of  the 
island  near  St.  Domingo  City,  and  that  not  now  in 
operation.  Thej  saw  by  hand  a  little  mahogany  at 
a  cost  of  80'  cents  a  cut,  ten  feet  long ;  and  when  an 
individual  wishes  to  build  a  house  at  Santiago, 
Moco,  La  Vega,  Cotuy,  or  any  of  the  interior  towns, 
he  has  to  begin  to  collect  his  lumber  a  year  before- 
hand ! ...  In  consequence  of  this  scarcity  and  cost  of 
lumber,  those  of  smaller  means  build  their  floors  of 
brick  and  flags,  and  roof  their  houses  with  the  same 
material  or  with  the  leaf  of  the  palm-tree.  Besides 
the  pine,  there  is  the  oak,  the  fustic  and  satin 
woods,  compache,  and  an  indefinite  variety  of  oth- 
ers. Some  of  the  hardest  and  most  durable  veget;i- 
ble  fibre  in  the  world  is  to  be  found  on  the  island." 
It  may  appear  somewhat  strange  to  the  reader 
that  mahogany  should  be  used  for  building  pur- 
poses, but  so  it  is.  The  art  of  veneering  is  but  lit- 
tle known,  house  furniture  consisting  generally  of 
solid  mahogany. 


LETT  Ell    IX. 

I^epii.l>lic     a  i'    Ilayti. 

HISTORICAL   SKETCH GEXF.RAL   DESCKIPTIOX   PREVIOUS   TO   1790. 


1 


"  Think  not  that  prodigies  ninst  rule  a  state — 
That  great  revulsions  spring  from  something  great." 

HAVE  given  you  Dorainicana  as  a  garden 
of  poetry  and  tlie  home  of  legendary  song. 
Well,  Hayti  is  a  land  of  historical  facts,  and  the  field 
of  unparalleled  glory.  Consulting  one  day  with 
Mr.  Eedpath,  the  talented  author  of  the  series  of 
letters  to  which  I  have  previously  referred,  he  sug- 
gested the  impossibility  of  any  one  forming  even  a 
comparatively  correct  opinion  respecting  afiairs  in 
Hayti,  without  being  guided  by  a  sketch  of  the 
country's  previous  history.  Confessedly,  therefore, 
much  as  his  letters  were  appreciated  by  the  readers 
of  the  Tribune  he  had  not  done  the  Haytiens 
simple  justice.  Since  nothing  could  be  so  highly 
interesting,  be  it  mine  and  the  Anglo- African^ s  to 
undertake  what  the   Tribune  and  its    correspond- 


THE    REPUBLIC   OF   IIAYTI.  77 

ent  failed  to  supply.  The  following  compilation 
will  be  taken  from  Rainsford's,  St.  Domingo, -and 
Edwards'  and  Coke's  histories  of  the  West  Indies, 
but  priueipally,  and  when  not  otherwise  marked, 
from  Coke. 

There  is  nothing  low  or  cowardly  in  the  history 
of  Ilayti.  Notwithstanding  their  conquests  on  the 
main  land,  the  Spaniards  were  wont  to  regard  it  as 
the  parent  colony  and  capital  of  their  American 
possessions.  The  buccaneers  of  Tortuga,  however 
much  they  may  have  suffered  or  have  been  feared, 
can  not  be  said  to  have  ever  been  really  conquered. 
In  fact,  by  whomsoever  settled,  the  country  has 
shown  one  uninterrupted  record  of  pride  and  inde- 
pendence.    I  regard  this  as  an  honor  to  begin  with. 

The  history  of  Hayti  begins  with  the  bucca- 
neers, a  company  of  French,  English,  and  Germans, 
driven  from  their  homes  in  the  neighboring  islands 
by  the  haughty  arrogance  of  the  Spaniards,  in 
1629.  These  men,  collected  on  the  shores  of  Tor- 
tuga, vowed  mutual  fidelity  and  protection  to  each 
other,  but  eternal  vengeance  against  their  persecu- 
tors. How  well  they  kept  their  word  has  passed 
into  a  proverb. 

In  16G5  the  court  of  Versailles,  observing  a 
beautiful  country  of  which  some  of  its  subjects  had 


78  SUMMER  ON   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

taken  an  actual  tliougli  accidental  possession,  took 
tlic  fugitive  colony  under  its  protection.  It  was 
not  difficult  for  the  French  government  to  see  that 
the  island  was  in  value  equal  to  an  empire,  and  it 
was  therefore  determined  to  enhance  its  interests 
with  all  possible  speed.  The  first  care  was  to 
select  a  governor  who  should  be  equal  to  the  diffi- 
cult task  of  humanizing  men  who  had  become 
barbarians  ;  which  important  task  was  committed 
to  D'Ogerton,  a  gentleman  of  Anjou. 

Hitherto  not  a  single  female  resided  in  the 
settlement,  to  supply  which  deficiency  was  the 
governor's  first  care.  With  this  view  he  sent  im- 
mediately to  France,  and  many  women  of  reputa- 
ble character  were  induced  to  embark.  From  this 
time  the  prosperity  of  the  colony  fairly  begins. 

The  personal  fame  of  D'Ogerton  drew  many  who 
had  suffered  persecution  at  home  to  flee  for  safety 
to  an  asj-lum  which  his  lenient  measures  had  estab- 
lished in  Hayti,  among  whom  was  one  Gobin,  a 
Calvinist,  who,  upon  his  arrival,  (1680,)  erected  a 
house  on  the  Cape,  and  prevailed  on  others  to  join 
him  in  his  retreat.  Time  added  to  their  numbers, 
and  the  conveniences  of  the  situation  justified  their 
choice.  As  the  lands  became  cleared  and  the 
value  of  its  commodious  bay  became  known,  both 


THE    REPUBLIC   OF   IIAYTI.  79 

inhabitants  and  shipping  resorted  to  the  spot,  and 
raised  the  town  of  Cape  Frangois  to  a  degree  of 
elegance,  wealth,  and  commercial  importance  which 
in  1790  scarcely  any  city  in  the  West  Indies  could 
presume  to  rival. 

Considered  in  itself,  the  situation  of  the  town  is 
not  to  be  commended.  It  stands  at  the  foot  of  a 
very  high  mountain  which  prevents  the  inhabitants 
from  enjoying  the  land  breezes,  which  are  not  only 
delicious  but  absolutely  necessary  to  health.  It  also 
obstructs  the  rays  of  the  sun,  causing  them  to  be 
reflected  in  such  a  manner  as  to  render  the  heat  at 
times  almost  insupportable.  On  one  side  of  the 
town,  however,  is  an  extensive  plain,  containing, 
perhaps,  without  any  exception,  some  of  the  linest 
lands  in  the  world.  The  air  is  temperate,  though 
the  days  and  nights  are  constantly  cool.  In  short, 
it  is  another  Eden.  "  Happy  the  mortal  who  first 
taught  the  French  to  settle  on  this  delicious  spot." 

The  situation  of  Port  au  Prince,  to  which  place 
the  seat  of  government  has  been  transferred,  seems 
to  have  been  unfortunately  selected.  It  is  low  and 
marsh}'-,  and  the  air  is  impregnated  with  noxious 
vapors,  rendering  it  extremely  unwliolesome.  To 
this  day  it  is  commonly  regarded  as  the  graveyard 
of  American  seamen.     In  1790  it  liad  also  reached 


80  SUMMER   ON    THE   CARIBBEAN. 

an  eminent  degree  of  prosperity,  and  contained 
14,754  inhabitants,  of  whom  2,754  were  white, 
4,000  free  people  of  color,  and  the  remainder  slaves. 
So,  also,  near  Port  au  Prince  is  a  fertile  plain 
called  Cul  de  Sac.  The  mountains  surrounding  it 
possess  a  grateful  soil,  and  are  cultivated  even 
to  their  summits.  The  value  of  such  lands  is  at 
present  from  ten  to  twenty  dollars  per  acre. 

The  town  of  St.  Mark's,  near  which  the  last  body 
of  colored  emigrants  from  America  have  settled, 
is  somewhat  more  advantageously  situated.  It  lies 
on  the  northern  shore  of  the  bay,  on  the  point  of 
an  obtuse  angle  formed  by  the  margin  of  the  rocks 
and  waves.  Hills  encircle  it  in  the  form  of  a  cres- 
cent, the  points  of  which  unite  with  the  sea,  and, 
while  they  afford  it  shelter,  leave  it  open  to  the 
breezes  of  the  ocean,  which  become  the  springs 
of  health. 

The  land  which  the  French  had  brought  under 
cultivation  previous  to  the  revolution  was  devoted 
mostly  to  the  cultivation  of  sugar,  coffee,  indigo, 
and  chocolate.  It  is  said  that  Hayti  alone  produced 
as  much  sugar  at  this  time  as  all  the  Biitish  "West 
Indies  united.  The  prodigious  productions  of  little 
more  than  two  million  acres  of  land  were  as  fol- 
lows :  brown  sugar,  93,773,300  lbs. ;  white  sugar. 


THE   REPUBLIC   OF   HAYTI.  81 

47,516,351  lbs. ;  cotton,  7,004,274  lbs.;  indigo,  758, 
628  lbs.  But  great  as  this  product  may  appear, 
it  by  no  means  gives  the  entire  amount,  the  quan- 
tity of  tanned  hides,  spirits,  &c.,  being  equally  im- 
mense. 

Immorality  and  irreligion  everywhere  prevailed, 
worse  even  than  at  present,  if  we  are  to  judge 
from  a  poem  written  about  that  time.  The  West 
Indies  would  seem  to  be  peculiarly  conducive  to 
this  species  of  iniquity : 

"  For  piety,  that  richest,  sweetest  grant, 
Of  purest  love  blest  super-lunar  plant, 
Is  here  neglected  for  inferior  good, 
Torn  from  the  roots,  or  blasted  in  the  bud. 
Soft  indolence  her  downy  couch  displays, 
And  lulls  her  victims  in  inglorious  ease. 
While  guilty  passions  to  their  foul  embrace 
Seduce  the  daughters  of  the  swarthy  race." 

This  brings  us  to  the  consideration  of  the  all- 
important  subject  called  in  America  the  "negro 
question,"  but  which  is,  nevertheless,  the  immortal 
question  of  the  rights  of  man. 

The  inhabitants  of  Hayti  consisted  of  540,000 
souls,  and  were  divided  into  three  distinct  classes 
— the  whites,  the  slaves,  and  the  mulattoes  and  free 
blacks.  The  term  mulatto  comprehended  all  shades 
between  whites  and  negroes.  The  whites  conducted 
themselves  as  if  born  to  command,  and  the  blacks, 


82  .SUMMER   OX   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

awed  into  submission,  yielded  obedience  to  their 
imperious  mandates,  while  the  mulattoes  were  de- 
spised by  both  parties. 

The  freedom  they  enjoyed  was  rather  nominal 
than  real.  On  reaching  a  state  of  manhood  each 
became  liable  to  serve  in  a  military  establishment, 
the  office  of  which  was  to  arrest  runaway  slaves, 
protect  travellers  on  the  public  roads,  and,  in  short, 
to  "mount  a  three  years'  guard  on  the  public  tran- 
quillity." To  complete  their  degradation,  they  were 
utterly  disqualified  from  holding  any  office  or  place 
of  public  trust.  No  mulatto  durst  assume  the  sur- 
name of  his  father ;  and  to  prevent  the  revenge 
whjcli  sucb  flagrant  and  contemptible  injustice 
could  hardly  fail  to  excite,  the  law  had  enacted 
that  if  a  free  man  of  color  presumed  to  strike  a 
white  man,  his  right  arm  should  he  cut  off.  In  fact, 
they  were  not  much  above  the  condition  of  the  free 
blacks  in  the  United  States.  "  On  comparing  the 
situation  of  these  two  classes  of  men" — the  slaves 
and  the  nominally  free — says  Coke,  "  it  is  difficult 
to  say  which  was  the  most  degraded.  The  social 
diflference  was,  without  doubt,  very  great,  but  in  the 
aggregate  must  have  been  about  the  same." 

Such,  was  the  state  of  affairs  previous  to  1790. 
What  they  have  been  subsequently  remains  to  be 


THE   REPUBLIC   OF  HAYTI.  88 

seen.  The  whip  of  terror  never  yet  made  a  friend. 
It  may  prevent  men  from  being  avowed  enemies 
for  a  while,  but  it  usually  makes  a  deeper  impres- 
sion upon  the  heart  than  upon  the  skin.  The  heart 
is  nearest  the  seat  of  recollection,  and  will  stimulate 
to  revenge  for  a  long  time  after  the  wound  has  been 
inflicted,  as  the  reader  of  the  following  pages  will 
abundantly  attest. 

"  Time  tho  Avenger !  unto  thee  I  lift 
My  hand3  and  eyes  and  heart,  and  crave  of  thee  a  gift." 


LETTER    X. 
Hepiil>lic    oT    Ilayti. 

AFFAIRS    IN    FRANCE — THE    CASE   OF   THE    MCLATTOES — TERRIBLE 
FATE  OF  OGE  AND  CHAVINE. 

^T  was  towards  the  close  of  the  year  1788  that 
^5  ^1^6  revolutionary  spirit  which  had  been  fer- 
menting among  the  French  people  from  the  con- 
clusion of  the  American  war  first  manifested  itself 
in  the  mother  country  ;  and  although  that  extraor- 
dinary event  convulsed  the  empire  in  every  part,  in 
no  place  was  the  shock  so  great  as  in  Hayti. 

.  The  mulattoes,  notwithstanding  their  oppression 
and  degradation,  it  should  have  been  observed, 
were  permitted  to  enjoy  property,  including  slaves, 
to  any  amount,  and  many  of  them  had  actually  ac- 
quired considerable  estates.  By  these  means  the 
most  wealthy  had  sent  their  children  to  France  for 
education,  just  as  many  are  now  sent  to  Oberlin,  in 
which  place  they  supported  them  in  no  small  degree 
of  grandeur. 

It  happened  about  this  time  that  a  considerable 


THE   REPUBLIC  OF   HAYTI.  85 

number  of  these  mulattoes  were  in  Paris,  among 
whom  was  Vincent  Oge.  This  young  man  entered 
into  the  political  questions  relative  to  the  people  of 
color,  which  were  then  violently  agitated,  and  be- 
came influenced  with  a  conflict  of  passions  at  the 
wrongs  which  he  and  his  degraded  countrymen 
were  apparently  destined  to  endure.  His  reputed 
father  was  a  white  planter,  of  some  degree  of  emi- 
nence and  respectability,  but  he  had  been  dead  for 
years.  Og6  was  about  30  years  of  age  ;  his  abili- 
ties were  far  from  being  contemptible,  but  they 
were  not  equal  to  his  ambition,  nor  sufficient  to 
conduct  him  through  that  enterprise  in  which  he 
soon  after  engaged.  Supported  in  Paris  in  a  state 
of  afiluence,  he  found  no  difficulty  in  associating 
with  La  Fayette,  Grregorie,  and  Brissot,  from  whom 
he  learned  the  prevailing  notion  of  equality,  and 
into  the  spirit  of  which  he  incautiously  entered  with 
all  the  enthusiasm  and  ardor  natural  to  the  youth- 
ful mind  when  irritated  by  unmerited  injuries  ;  and 
,  he  determined  to  avenge  his  wrongs. 

Induced  to  believe  that  all  the  mulattoes  of  Hayti 
were  actuated  by  the  same  high-minded  principle, 
he  sacrificed  his  fortune,  prepared  for  hostilities, 
and  sailed  to  join  his  brethren  in  Hayti. 

What   was    Ogd's   disappointment   when,    after 


86  SUMMER   ON   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

evading  the  vigilance  of  the  police  and  secretly  suc- 
ceeding in  reaching  these  shores,  he  found  no  party 
prepared  to  receive  him,  or  willing  to  take  up  arms  in 
their  own  defence  I  It  probably  might  have  been 
said  of  him  also,  "  His  heart  is  seared.^^ 

About  two  hundred  were  at  length  prevailed 
upon  to  rally  around  his  standard ;  and  with  this 
inadequate  force  he  proceeded  to  declare  his  in- 
tentions, and  actually  dispatched  a  note  to  the 
governor  to  that  effect. 

In  his  military  arrangements  his  two  brothers 
were  to  act  under  him,  with  one  Mark  Chavine, 
as  lieutenants.  Og^  and  his  brothers  were  humane 
in  their  dispositions,  and  averse  to  the  shedding  of 
blood ;  but  with  Chavine  the  case  was  totally  dif- 
ferent. 

Ferocious,  sanguinary,  and  courageous,  he  began 
his  career  with  acts  of  violence  which  it  was  im- 
possible for  Oge  to  prevent. 

Finally  the  brothers  of  Og^  joined  Chavine  in  his 
petty  depredations.  White  men  were  murdered  as 
accident  threw  thcui  in  their  way.  The  mulattoes, 
when  they  could  not  be  induced  to  join  them,  were 
treated  with  every  species  of  indignity ;  and  one 
man  in  particular,  who  excused  himself  from  join- 


THE    REPUBLIC    OF   IIAYTI.  87 

ing  them  on  account  of  his  family,  was  murdered, 
together  with  his  wife  and  six  children. 

The  inhabitants  of  Cape  Francois,  alarmed  at 
these  outrages  which  they  imagined  to  be  committed 
by  a  far  more  formidable  body  of  rcvolters  than 
really  existed,  immediately  took  measures  for  their 
suppression, 

A  detachment  of  regular  troops  invested  the 
mulatto  camp,  which,  after  making  an  ineffectual 
resistance  in  which  many  were  killed,  was  entirely 
broken  up.  The  whole  troop  dispersed.  Og6  and 
his  officers  took  refuge  in  the  Spanish  part  of  the 
island.  The  principal  part  of  their  ammunition  and 
military  stores  immediately  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  victors. 

The  triumphs  of  the  whites  over  the  vanquished 
insurgents  were  such  that  they  proceeded  from  vic- 
tory to  insult.  The  lower  orders  especially  dis- 
covered such  pointed  animosity  against  the  mulat- 
toes  at  large  that  they  became  seriously  alarmed  for 
their  personal  safety,  and  many  regretted  not 
having  joined  the  now  vanquished  party. 

Urged  by  fatal  necessity  many  resorted  to  arms, 
so  that  several  camps  were  formed  in  different  parts 
of  the  colony  far  more  formidable  than  that  of  Og^. 


88  SUMMER   ON  THE   CARIBBEAN. 

At  this  time  KiGAUD,  the  mulatto  general,  makes 
his  appearance,  declaring  that  no  peace  would  be 
permanent  "until  one  class  of  people  had  extermina- 
ted the  other." 

In  the  midst  of  these  commotions  which  presaged 
an  approaching  tempest,  Peynier,  the  governor,  re- 
signed his  office  in  favor  of  general  Blanchelande. 
The  first  step  of  the  latter  was  directed  towards  the 
unfortunate  Ogd.  The  demand  made  on  the  Spanish 
governor  for  his  arrest  was  peremptory  and  de- 
cisive. Twenty  of  Og6's  followers,  including  one 
of  his  brothers,  were  speedily  hung ;  but  a  severer 
fate  awaited  Oge  and  Chavine.  They  were  con- 
demned to  be  broken  alive,  and  were  actually  left 
to  perish  in  that  terrible  condition  on  the  wheel. 

Chavine,  the  hardy  lieutenant,  met  his  destiny 
with  that  undaunted  firmness  which  had  marked 
his  life.  He  bore  the  extremity  of  his  torture  with 
an  invincible  resolution,  without  betraying  the  least 
symptom  of  fear,  and  without  uttering  a  groan  at 
his  excruciating  sufferings. 

"With  Oge  the  case  was  widely  different.  When 
sentence  was  passed  upon  him  his  fortitude  aban- 
doned him  altogether.  He  wept ;  he  solicit-ed  mercy 
in   terms  of  the  most  abject  humility;   but  in  the 


THE    REPUBLIC    OF   HAYTI.  89 

end  he  was  hurried  to  execution,  and  left  to  ex- 
pire in  the  most  horrid  agonies. 

Previous  to  this  the  National  Assembly  in  France, 
which  had  originally  declared  "  That  all  men  are 
born  free,  and  continue  free  and  equal  as  to  their 
rights,"  had  to  contradict  this  in  order  to  pacify 
the  planters,  and  to  declare  it  was  not  their  inten- 
tion to  interfere  with  the  local  institutions  of  the 
colonies. 

It  so  happened,  however,  that  with  this  decree 
they  also  transmitted  to  the  governor  a  chapter  of 
instructions,  one  of  the  articles  of  which  expressed 
this  sentiment :  "  That'  every  person  of  the  age  of 
twenty -five  and  upwards,  possessing  property  or 
having  resided  two  years  in  the  colony  and  paid 
taxes,  should  be  permitted  to  vote  in  the  formation 
of  the  colonial  assembly."  It  was  like  the  Dred 
Scott  decision  of  the  United  States,  for  the  ques- 
tion immediately  arose  Avhether  the  term  "  every 
person  "  included  the  mulattoes. 

It  was  just  at  this  time  that  inteUigencc  of  the 
tragical  death  of  Oge,  who  had  been  previously  well 
known  in  Paris,  reached  that  city.  The  public  mind 
was  instantly  inflamed  against  the  planters  almost  to 
madness,  and  for  some  time  those  in  the  city  were  un- 


90  SUMMER   ON   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

able  to  appear  in  public,  either  to  apologize  for  their 
brethren  or  defend  themselves.  To  keep  alive  that 
resentment  which  had  been  awakened,  a  tragedy  was 
founded  on  the  dying  agonies  of  Og6,  and  the  thea- 
tres of  Paris  conveyed  the  tidings  of  his  exit  to  all 
classes  of  people. 

Brissot  and  Gregorie,  two  well-known  reformers, 
availing  themselves  of  this  auspicious  moment, 
brought  the  case  of  the  raulattoes  before  the  Na- 
tional Assembly. 

This  was  early  in  May,  1791.  The  eloquence 
displayed  by  Gregorie  on  this  occasion  was  most 
marvellous,  enforced  by  such  facts  as  a  state  of 
slavery  and  degradation  rarely  fails  to  produce, 
and  the  whole  finished  by  an  affecting  recital  of 
the  death  of  Oge. 

Amid  the  ardor  with  which  he  pleaded  the 
cause  of  the  mulattoes,  a  few  persons  attempted  to 
stem  the  torrent  by  predicting  the  ruin  of  the 
colonies.  "  Perish  the  colomes,^^  exclaimed  Robes- 
pierre in  reply,  "  rather  than  sacrifice  one  iota  of 
our  principles."  The  sentiment  was  reiterated 
amid  the  applauses  of  an  enthusiastic  Senate,  and 
the  National  Assembly,  on  the  15th  day  of  May, 
decreed  that  the  people  of  color  born  of  free 
parents  should  thenceforth  have  all  the  rights  of 


THE   REPUBLIC   OF   HAYTI.  91 

French  citizens ;  that  tliey  should  have  votes  in 
the  choice  of  representatives,  and  be  eligible  to 
seats  both  in  the  parochial  and  colonial  assemblies. 

The  colonial  representatives  no  sooner  heard  that 
these  decisive  steps  were  taken  than  they  declared 
their  office  useless,  and  resolved  to  decline  any 
further  attempts  to  preserve  the  colonies. 

The  colonists  who  resided  in  the  mother  country 
heard  the  decree  with  indignation  and  amazement. 
But  in  the  island,  as  soon  as  it  became  known,  the 
planters  sunk  into  a  state  of  torpor,  and  appeared 
for  a  moment  as  if  petrified  into  statues.  All  local 
feuds  between  the  whites  were  immediately  sus- 
pended, and  all  animosities  swallowed  up  by  what 
appeared  to  them  an  evil  of  unparalleled  magnitude. 
The  civic  oath  was  treated  with  contempt ;  tumult 
succeeded  subordination ;  j^roposals  were  made  to 
hoist  the  British  colors;  and  resolutions  crowded  on 
resolutions  to  renounce  at  once  all  connection  with 
a  country  that  had  placed  the  rights  of  the  mulat- 
toes  on  an  equal  footing  with  their  own. 

The  mulattoes,  who  became  criminal  from  their 
color,  were  obliged  to  flee  in  every  direction.  Their 
homes  afforded  them  no  pi'otection.  Thiy  were 
threatened  with  shouting  in  the  sli'eet;  and  thus 
menaced  by  destruction,  they  began  to  arm  in  every 
direction. 


92  SUMMER    ON   THE   CAKIBBEAX. 

The  governor  beheld  this  commotion  with  palsied 
solicitude.  He  foresaw  the  evils  that  must  burst 
upon  the  colony,  without  having  it  in  his  power  to 
apply  either  a  preventive  or  a  remedy. 

But  a  far  more  awful  mine,  surcharged  with  com- 
bustibles, and  destined  to  appall  all  parties,  was 
at  that  moment  on  the  very  eve  of  an  explosion. 


LETTER   XI. 
R.epii.l>lio    of    Hayti. 

A    CHAPTER     OF     HORRORS    (wHICH    THE     DELICATE    READER     MAY, 
IF    HE    CHOOSES,    OMITJ. 

"  Out  breaks  at  once  the  far-resounding  cry— 
The  standard  of  revolt  is  raised  on  high." 

MONG  the  various  transactions  which  had 
taken  place,  both  in  the  island  and  in  France, 
little  or  no  attention  had  been  paid  to  the 
condition  of  the  slaves.  It  is  true  an  abolition 
society  had  been  early  established  in  Paris,  called 
the  "Friends  of  the  Blacks,"  {Aynis  des  noirs.) 
Their  sufferings  had  also  been  used  to  give  energy 
to  a  harangue,  or  to  enforce  the  necessity  of  gen- 
eral reformation,  but  their  situation  was  passed 
over  by  the  legislative  assemblies  as  a  subject  that 
admitted  of  no  redress. 

These,  sensible  of  their  condition,  numbers,  and 
powers,  resolved,  amid  the  general  confusion,  to 
assert  their  freedom  and  legislate  for  themselves. 


94  SUMMER   ON    THE   CARIBBEAN, 

Tliey  had  learned  from  the  contentions  of  both 
their  white  and  colored  masters  that  violence  was 
necessary  to  prosperity.  Such  measures  they 
adopted ;  and  no  sooner  adopted  than  they  were 
carried  into  effect. 

It  was  early  on  the  morning  of  August  23,  1791, 
that  a  confused  report  began  to  circulate  through 
the  capital  that  the  negroes  were  not  only  in  a  state 
of  insurrection,  but  that  they  were  consuming  with 
fire  what  the  sword  had  spared.  A  report  so 
serious  could  not  fail  to  spread  the  greatest  alarm. 
It  was  credited  by  the  timid,  despised  by  the  fear- 
less, but  was  deeply  interesting  to  all.  Pretty  soon 
the  arrival  of  a  few  half-breathless  fugitives  con- 
firmed the  melancholy  news ;  they  had  j  ust  escaped 
from  the  scene  of  desolation  and  carnage,  and  has- 
tened to  the  town  to  beg  protection  and  to  commu- 
nicate the  fatal  particulars.  From  these  white  fugi- 
tives (the  scale  had  turned)  it  was  learned  that  the 
insurrection  was  begun  by  the  slaves  on  a  plantation 
not  more  than  nine  miles  from  Cape  Frangois. 

There,  it  appeared,  in  the  dead  of  night,  they  had 
assembled  together  and  massacred  every  branch  of 
their  master's  family  that  fell  in  their  way.  From 
thence  they  proceeded  to  the  next  plantation,  where 
they  acted  in  the  same  manner,  and  augmented  their 


THE    REPUBLIC   OF    IIAYTI.  95 

number  with  the  shives  whom  the  murder  of  their 
master  had  apparently  liberated.  And  so  on  they 
went,  from  plantation  to  plantation,  recruiting  their 
forces  in  proportion  to  the  murders  they  commit- 
ted, and  extending  their  desolations  as  their  num- 
bers increased. 

From  the  plantation  of  M.  Flaville  they  carried 
off  the  wife  and  three  daughters,  and  three  daugh- 
ters of  the  attorney,  after  murdering  him  before 
their  faces.  In  many  cases  the  white  women  were 
rescued  from  death  with  the  most  horrid  intentions, 
and  were  actually  compelled  to  suffer  violation  on 
the  mangled  bodies  of  their  dead  hiLsbands,  friends^  or 
brothers,  ioiohom  they  liad  been  clinging  for  protection. 

The  return  of  daylight,  for  which  those  who  had 
escaped  the  sword  anxiously  waited,  to  show  them 
the  full  extent  of  their  danger,  was  anticipated  by 
the  flames  that  now  began  to  kindle  in  every  direc- 
tion. This  was  the  work  of  but  a  single  half  night. 
The  shrieks  of  the  inhabitants  and  the  spreading  of 
the  conflagration,  occasionally  intercepted  by  col- 
umns of  smoke  which  had  begun  to  ascend,  formed 
the  mournful  spectacle  which  appeared  through  a 
vast  extent  of  country  when  the  day  began  to  dawn. 

It  was  now  obvious  that  the  insurrection  was  gen- 
eral, and  that  the  measures  of  the  revolted  slaves 


96  SUMMKi:    ON    'HIE   CAHIHBKAN. 

Lad  been  skilfully  preconcerted,  on  which  account  the 
revolt  became  more  dangerous.  The  blacks  on  the 
plantation  of  M.  Gullifct  had  been  treated  with  such 
remarkable  tenderness  that  their  happiness  became 
proverbial.  These,  it  was  presumed,  would  retain 
their  fidelity.  So  M.  Odelac,  the  agent  of  the  plan- 
tation, and  member  of  the  General  Assembly,  de- 
termined to  visit  them  at  the  head  of  a  few  soldiers, 
and  to  lead  them  against  the  insurgents.  When  he 
got  there  he  found  they  had  not  only  raised  the  en- 
sign of  rebellion,  but  had  actually  erected  for  their 
standard  the  body  of  a  white  ixeant,  which  they 
had  impaled  on  a  stake.  So  much  for  happy  ne- 
groes and  contented  slaves  !  Retreat  was  impossi- 
ble. M.  Odelac  himself  was  soon  surrounded  and 
murdered  without  mercy,  his  companions  sharing 
the  same  fate — all  except  two  or  three,  who  escaped 
by  instant  flight  only  to  add  their  tale  to  the  list 
of  woes. 

The  governor  proceeded  immediately  to  put  the 
towns  in  a  proper  state  of  defence ;  and  all  the  in- 
habitants were,  without  distinction,  called  upon  to 
labor  at  the  fortiiications.  Messengers  were  des- 
patched to  all  the  remotest  places,  both  by  sea  and 
land,  to  which  any  communication  was  open,  to  ap- 
prise the  people  of  their  danger,  and  to  give  them 


THE   REPUBLIC   OF   HAYTI.  07 

timely  notice  to  prepare  for  the  defence.  Through 
the  promptitude  with  which  the  whites  acted,  a 
chain  of  posts  was  instantly  established  and  several 
camps  were  formed. 

But  the  revolt  was  now  found  to  be  even  greater 
than  imagined.  The  slaves,  as  if  impelled  by 
one  common  instinct,  seemed  to  catch  the  conta- 
gion without  any  visible  communication.  Danger 
became  every  day  more  and  more  imminent,  so 
much  so  that  an  embargo  was  laid  on  all  the  ship- 
ping, to  secure  the  inhabitants  a  retreat  in  case  of 
the  last  extremity.  Among  the  different  camps 
which  had  been  formed  by  the  whites  were  one  at 
Grande  Eiviere  and  another  at  Dondon.  Both  of 
these  were  attacked  by  a  body  of  negroes  and  mu- 
lattoes,  and  a  long  and  bloody  contest  ensued.  In 
the  end  the  whites  were  routed  and  compelled  to 
take  refuge  in  the  Spanish  dominions.  Through- 
out the  succeeding  night  carnage  and  conflagration 
went  hand  in  hand,  the  latter  of  which  became 
more  terrible  from  the  glare  which  it  cast  on  the 
surrounding  darkness.  Nothing  remained  to  coun- 
teract the  ravages  of  the  insurgents  but  the  shrieks 
and  tears  of  the  suffering  fugitives,  and  these  were 
usually  permitted  to  plead  in  vain. 

The  instances  of  barbarity  which  followed  are 


98  SUMMER   ON   THE   CARinREAN, 

too  horrible  for  description  ;  nor  sliould  wo  be  in- 
duced to  transcribe  any  portion  of  them,  were  it 
not  that  many  persons  regard  such  statements  as 
mere  assertions  unless  accompanied  by  a  record  of 
the  unhappy  facts.  The  recital  of  a  few,  however, 
will  set  all  doubts  forever  at  rest. 

"They  seized,"  says  Edwards,  "a  Mr.  Blenan, 
an  officer  of  the  police,  and,  having  nailed  him  alive 
to  one  of  the  gates  of  his  plantation,  chopped  off 
his  limbs  one  by  one  with  an  axe." 

"  A  poor  man  named  Robert,  a  carpenter,  by  en- 
deavoring to  conceal  himself  from  the  notice  of  the 
rebels,  Avas  discovered  in  his  hiding-place,  and  the 
negroes  declared  that  he  should  die  in  the  way  of 
his  occupation ;  accordingly  they  laid  him  between 
two  boards,  and  deliberately  sawed  him  asunder." 

"  All  the  white  and  even  the  mulatto  children 
whose  fathers  had  not  joined  in  the  revolt  were 
murdered  without  exception,  frequently  before  their 
eyes,  or  while  clinging  to  the  bosoms  of  their  moth- 
ers. Young  women  of  all  ranks  were  first  violated 
by  whole  troops  of  barbarians,  and  then,  generally, 
put  to  death.  Some  of  them,  indeed,  were  reserved 
for  the  gratification  of  the  lust  of  the  leaders,  and 
others  had  their  eyes  scooped  out  with  a  knife." 

"  In  the  parish  of  Timbe,  at  a  place  called  the 


THE    REPUBLIC   OF   HAYTI.  99 

Great  Eavine,  a  venerable  planter,  the  father  of  two 
beautiful  young  ladies,  was  tied  down  by  the  sav- 
age ringleader  of  a  band,  who  ravished  the  eldest 
daughter  in  his  presence,  and  delivered  over  the 
youngest  to  one  of  his  followers.  Their  passions 
being  satisfied,  they  slaughtered  both  the  father 
and  the  daughters." 

"  M.  Cardineau,  a  planter  of  Grande  Eiviere,  had 
two  natural  sons  by  a  black  woman.  He  had  man- 
umitted them  in  their  infancy,  and  treated  them 
with  great  tenderness.  They  both  joined  the  re- 
volt ;  and  when  their  father  endeavored  to  divert 
them  from  their  purpose  by  soothing  language  and 
pecuniary  offers,  they  took  his  money,  and  then 
stabbed  him  to  the  heart." 

Amid  the  worst  of  these  scenes  Mr.  Edwards 
records  that  solitary  and  affecting  instance  wherein 
a  soft-hearted  slave  saved  the  lives  of  his  master 
and  family  by  sending  them  adrift  on  the  river  by 
moonlight.*  This  is  generally  admitted  to  have 
been  the  Washington  of  Ilayti,  Toussaint  L'Ouver- 
turc. 

At  this  time,  also,  the  mulatto  chiefs,  actuated  by 
different  motives,  not  only  refused  to  adopt  sucli 

*  For  a  beautiful  description  of  tliis  affectiug  scene,  see  Whit- 
tier's  "Toussaint  L'Ouvorturo." 


100  SUMMER   ON    THE   CAKIBBEAN. 

horrid  measures,  but  particularly  declared  their 
only  intention  in  taking  up  arms  was  to  support 
the  decree  of  the  15th  of  May,  which  had  acknowl- 
edged their  rights,  of  which  the  whites  had  been 
endeavoring  to  deprive  them,  and  proposed  to  lay 
down  their  arms  provided  the  whites  acknowledged 
them  as  equals. 

The  white  inhabitants  gladly  availed  themselves 
of  an  overture  which,  though  it  pressed  hard  on 
their  ambition,  afforded  a  prospect  for  deliverance 
from  impending  danger.  A  truce  immediately  took 
place,  which  they  denominated  a  concordat.  An 
act  of  oblivion  was  passed  on  both  sides  over  all 
that  had  passed,  the  whites  admitting  in  all  its  force 
the  decree  giving  equality  to  the  mulattoes.  The 
sentence  passed  upon  Og^  and  the  execution  of  it 
the  concordat  declared  to  be  infamous,  and  to  be 
"  held  in  everlasting  execration."  So  much  for  Oge. 

Both  parties  now  appeared  to  be^qually  satisfied, 
and  a  mutual  confidence  took  place.  Nothing  re- 
mained but  to  induce  the  mulattoes  to  join  the 
whites  in  the  reduction  of  the  negroes,  now  in  a 
most  formidable  state  of  insurrection.  To  this  the 
mulattoes  consented.  New  troops  were  introduced 
from  France.  The  whites  were  elated,  and  perfect 
tranquillity  stood  for  a  moment  on  the  very  tiptoe 
of  anticipation. 


THE    REPUBLIC   OF   HAYTI.  101 

But  the  great  lesson  of  the  revolution  was  speed- 
ily to  be  learned.  The  hurricane  of  terror  which 
was  yet  to  overcome  them  was  at  that  moment  on 
the  Atlantic,  and  hastening  with  fatal  impetuosity 
towards  these  uncertain  shores. 

UNIOX. 

It  was  early  in  the  month  of  September  that 
intelligence  reached  France  of  the  reception  which 
the  decree  of  the  15th  of  May  had  met  with  in 
Hayti.  The  tumult  and  horrid  massacres  which 
we  have  noticed  were  represented  in  their  most 
affecting  colors.  Consequences  more  dreadful  were 
still  anticipated.  The  resolution  of  the  whites  never 
to  allow  the  operation  of  the  ill-fated  decree  was 
represented  as  immovable  ;  and  serious  apprehen- 
sions were  entertained  for  the  loss  of  the  colony. 

The  mercantile  towns  grew  alarmed  for  the  safety 
of  their  capitals,  and  petitions  and  remonstrances 
were  poured  in  ujjon  the  National  Assembly  from 
every  iiitei'ested  quarter  for  the  repeal  of  that 
decree  which  they  plainly  foresaw  must  involve  the 
colony  in  all  the  horrors  of  civil  war,  and  increase 
those  heaps  of  ashes  which  liad  already  deformed 
its  once  beautiful  plains. 

The  National  Assembly,  now  on  the  eve  of  dis- 


102  SUMMER   ON   THE   CAHIRBEAN. 

solation,  listened  with  astonishment  to  the  effects  of 
a  decree  whicli,  by  acknowledging  the  rights  of  the 
mulattocs,  it  was  expected  would  cover  them  with 
glorj.  The  tide  of  popular  opinion  had  begun  to 
ebb ;  the  members  of  the  Assembly  fluctuated  in 
indecision  ;  the  friends  of  the  planters  seized  each 
favorable  moment  to  press  their  point,  and  actually 
procured  a  repeal  of  the  decree  at  the  same  mo- 
ment that  it  had  become  a  medium  of  peace  in 
Hayti. 

At  length  the  news  reached  these  unhappy  shores. 
The  infatuated  whites  resolved  to  support  the  re- 
peal, which  would  leave  the  mulattoes  at  their 
mercy.  A  sullen  silence  prevailed  among  the 
latter,  interrupted  at  first  by  occasional  murmur- 
ings  and  execrations,  and  finally  exploding  in  a 
frenzy  which  produced  the  most  diabolical  excesses 
yet  on  record. 

Eigaud's  original  motto  was  again  revived,  and 
each  party  seemed  to  aim  at  the  extermination  of 
the  other.  The  mulattoes  made  a  desperate  attempt 
to  capture  Port  au  Prince,  but  the  European  troops 
lately  arrived  defeated  them  with  considerable  loss. 
They  nevertheless  set  fire  to  the  city,  which  lighted 
up  a  conflagration  in  which  more  than  a  third  part 
of  it  was  reduced  to  ashes. 


THE   REPUBLIC   OF   HAYTI.  103 

Driven  from  Port  au  Prince,  by  the  light  of  those 
flames  which  they  had  kindled,  the  mulattoes  estab- 
lished themselves  at  La  Croix  Bouquets  in  con- 
siderable force,  in  which  port  they  maintained  them- 
selves with  more  than  equal  address.  At  last,  find- 
ing themselves  and  the  revolted  slaves  engaged  in  a 
common  cause,  they  contrived  to  unite  their  forces, 
and  with  this  view  drew  to  their  body  the  swarms 
that  resided  in  Cul  de  Sac.  Augmented  with  these 
undisciplined  myriads  they  risked  a  general  en- 
gagement, in  which  two  thousand  blacks  were  left 
dead  on  the  field  ;  about  fifty  mulattoes  were  killed, 
and  some  taken  prisoners.  The  loss  of  the  whites 
was  carefully  concealed,  but  is  supposed  to  have 
been  equally  as  destructive. 

The  furious  whites  seized  a  mulatto  chief  whom 
they  had  taken  prisoner,  and,  to  their  everlasting 
infamy,  upon  him  they  determined  to  wreak  their 
vengeance.  They  placed  liim  in  a  cart,  driving 
large  spike  nails  through  his  feet  into  the  boards 
on  which  they  rested  to  prevent  his  escape,  and  to 
show  their  dexterity  in  torture.  In  this  miserable 
condition  he  was  conducted  through  the  streets,  and 
exposed  to  the  insults  of  those  who  mocked  iiis 
sufferings.  He  was  then  liberated  from  this  partial 
crucifixion  to  suffer  a  new  mode  of  torment.     His 


104  SUMMER  ON   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

bones  were  then  bn^kcn  in  pieces,  and  finally  he 
was  cast  alive  into  the  fire,  wheie  lie  expired.  So 
much  for  the  whites. 

The  mulattoes,  irritated  to  madness  at  the  inhu- 
manity with  which  one  of  their  leaders  had  been 
treated,  only  awaited  an  opportunity  to  avenge  his 
wrongs.  Unfortunately,  an  opportunity  soon  oc- 
curred. In  the  neighborhood  of  Jerimie,  M.  Se- 
journe  and  his  wife  were  seized.  The  lady  was 
materially  enciente.  Her  husband  was  first  mur- 
dered before  her  eyes.  They  then  ripped  open  her 
body,  took  out  the  infant  and  gave  it  to  the  hogs  ; 
after  which  they  cut  off  her  husband's  head  and 
entombed  it  in  her  bowels.  "  Such  were  the  first 
displays  of  vengeance  and  retaliation,  and  such  were 
the  scenes  that  closed  the  year  1791." 

"  A  law  there  is  of  ancient  fame, 
By  nature's  self  in  every  land  implanted, 
Lex  Talionis  is  its  latin  name  ; 
But  if  an  English  term  be  wanted, 
Give  our  next  neighbor  but  a  pat, 
He'll  give  you  back  as  good  and  tell  yon— tit  for  (at ! 


LETTER   XII. 
Il.epvil>lic     of    Mayti. 

TRAGEDY   OF   THE    REVOLUTION    CONTDfrED RIGAUD    SUCCEEDED 

BY    TOUSSAIN'T TOUSSAINT    DUPED    BY    LE    CLERC. 

^^^E  omit,  as  unnecessary  to  the  thread  of  this 
'^^  narrative,  the  contentions  between  the  French 
and  English,  in  consequence  of  the  British  inva- 
sion, from  1792  to  1798 ;  during  which  time 
Rigaud  was  succeeded  by  Toussaint  L'Ouverture, 
whose  superior  military  genius  had  won  for  him 
the  appointment  of  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
native  forces. 

But  there  is  yet  another  "  lesson  of  the  hour"  to 
be  gleaned  from  the  history  of  this  marvellous 
revolution.     Treachery  led  to  the  fall  of  Toussaint. 

On  the  1st  day  of  July,  1801,  a  Declaration  of 
Independence  was  made  by  Toussaint,  in  the  name 
of  the  people. 

The  ancient  proprietors  of  plantations,  who  in 
the  former  insurrections  had  been  compelled  to 
quit  the  island  and  seek  an  asylum  in  France, 
soon  found  in  this  act  of  independence  a  confirma- 


106  SUMMER   ON   THE  CARIBBEAN. 

tion  of  their  former  suspicions.  They  saw  that 
all  their  valuable  possessions  must  be  inevitably 
lost,  and  that  forever,  unless  government  could  be 
prevailed  on  to  send  an  armed  force  to  crush  at 
once  a  revolt  which  had  become  so  formidable  as 
to  assume  independence. 

The  complicated  interests  of  commerce  were  in- 
stantly alarmed  and  awakened  to  action ;  power- 
ful parties  were  formed  ;  a  horde  of  venal  writers 
started  immediately  into  notice;  a  change  was 
"wrought  in  the  public  sentiment  as  by  the  power 
of  magic ;  and  negro  emancipation  was  treated  in 
just  the  same  manner  that  negro  slavery  had  been 
treated  before.  Such  was  the  fickleness  of  the 
French  s^t  that  time,  and  such  is  the  inconstancy 
of  the  human  mind  in  ours. 

Bonaparte,  aiming  himself  at  uncontrolled  do- 
minion, found  it  necessary  to  bribe  all  parties  with 
gratifying  promises  to  induce  them  to  favor  his 
views,  and  to  enable  him  to  introduce  such  changes 
in  the  form  of  government  as  he  desired. 

The  transitory  peace  which  had  taken  place  in 
Europe  produced  at  this  time  a  band  of  desperate 
adventurers,  who,  destitute  of  employment,  were 
ready  for  any  enterprise  that  could  afford  them  an 
opportunity  to   distinguish   themselves.      Accord- 


THE   REPUBLIC  OF   HAYTI.  107 

ingly  an  expedition  of  26,000  men  was  fitted  out, 
at  the  head  of  Avhich  was  placed  General  le  Clerc  ;* 
and  such  was  the  confidence  of  its  success,  that  he 
was  accompanied  by  his  wife,  (sister  to  Napoleon,) 
and  her  younger  brother  Jerome  Bonaparte. 

Bat  it  was  not  to  the  fleet  and  army  that  Napo- 
leon trusted  exclusively  for  success.  A  number  of 
plotting  emissaries  had  been  secretly  dispatched 
to  tamper  with  the  unsuspecting  blacks,  to  sow  the 
seeds  of  discord  between  parties,  and  to  shake 
their  confidence  in  Toussaint.  Even  Toussaint's 
children  had  been  prepared,  by  the  deceitful  caresses 
of  the  First  Consul,  to  assist,  by  their  representation 
of  his  conduct  towards  them,  in  the  seduction  of 
their  father.. 

Le  Clerc  with  his  detachment  of  the  French  squad- 
ron, appeared  off  Cape  Francois  on  the  oth  day  of 
January,  1802.  General  Christophe,  who,  during  the 
absence  of  Toussaint,  held  the  command,  on  perceiv- 
ing the  approach  of  the  French  fleet,  immediately 
dispatched  one  of  his  ofiicers  to  inform  the  comman- 
der of  the  squadron  of  Toussaint's  absence,  and  to 
assure  him  he  could  not  permit  any  troops  to  laud 
until  he  had  heard  from  the  General-in-Chief. 
"That  in   case  the   direction   of    tlie   expedition 

*  Rainsford. 


108  SUMMER  ON  THE   CARIBBEAN. 

should  persist  in  the  disembarkation  of  his  forces 
without  permission,  he  should  consider  the  white 
inhabitants  in  his  district  as  hostages  for  his  con- 
duct, and,  in  consequence  of  any  attack,  the  place 
attacked  would  be  immediately  consigned  to  the 
flames." . 

The  inhabitants,  trembling  for  their  personal 
safety  and  the  fall  of  the  city,  sent  a  deputation  to 
assure  Le  Clerc  that  what  had  been  threatened  by 
Christophe  would  actually  be  realized  should  he 
persist  in  his  attempt  to  land  his  forces. 

Le  Clerc,  regardless  of  this  destiny,  and  intent 
upon  the  gratification  of  his  own  ambition,  pro- 
ceeded to  put  on  shore  his  troops,  flattering  himself 
with  being  able  to  gain  the  heights  of  the  Cape 
before  the  blacks  should  have  time  to  light  up  their 
threatened  conflagration. 

Christophe  instantly  perceived  this  movement, 
and,  steady  to  his  purpose,  ordered  his  soldiers  to 
defend  themselves  in  their  respective  posts  to  the 
last  extremity,  and  to  sink  if  possible  the  ships  of 
the  assailants ;  but  that  when  their  own  positions 
were  no  longer  tenable,  to  remove  whatever  valua- 
bles could  be  preserved,  reduce  every  thing  besides 
to  ashes,  and  retire. 

Le  Clerc  did  not  reach  the  heights  of  the  Cape 


THE   KEPUBLIC   OF   HAYTI.  109 

until  evening,  and  then  only  to  behold  the  flames 
which  Christophe  had  kindled,  and  which  filled 
even  the  French  soldiers  with  horror.  They  be- 
held with  unavailing  anguish  the  stately  city  in  a 
blaze,  the  glare  of  which  gilded  the  ceiling  of 
heaven  with  a  dismal  light.  Their  expectation  of 
a  booty  vanished  in  an  instant,  and  the  only 
reward  which  awaited  them,  they  plainly  perceived, 
was  a  heap  of  ashes  or  a  bed  of  fire. 

It  was  during  these  scenes  of  devastation  on  the 
shores  that  Toussaint  was  engaged  in  rendering  the 
interior  as  formidable  as  possible ;  after  the  accom- 
plishing of  which  he  returned  towards  the  ruins  of 
the  capital  to  discover  if  possible  the  real  intentions 
of  the  French  respecting  the  island,  and  to  learn  if 
any  amicable  proposition  was  to  be  made,  which 
should  secure  to  the  inhabitants  that  freedom  for 
which  they  had  taken  up  arms. 

In  this  moment  of  suspended  rapine,  Le  Clerc 
resolved  to  try  what  effect  a  letter  addressed  per- 
sonally to  Toussaint  by  Napoleon  would  have  upon 
the  black  commandei',  who  was  yet  unapprised  of 
its  existence,  or  of  the  arrival  of  his  sons  from 
France.  A  courier  was  immediately  dispatched 
with  the  former,  and  with  intelligence  that  tlie 
6 


110  SUMMEU   ON    IHE   CARIJJBEAX. 

latter  were  witli   their  mother  on  his  plantation, 
called  Eunerry. 

The  wife  and  children  of  Toussaint,  ignorant  of 

the  part  they  were  to  phiy,  entertained,  as  the  author 

of  their  happiness,  Coison,  the  preceptor  of  their 

children,  who  was  at  tliat  moment  plotting  their 

•  destruction. 

Toussaint,  animated  with  the  feelings  of  an  affec- 
tionate parent,  hastened,  on  the  receipt  of  the  letter 
and  intelligence  of  the  arrival  of  his  children,  to 
fold  them  in  his  warm  embrace.  He  reached  the 
plantation  the  ensuing  night.  When  his  arrival 
was  announced,  the  mother  shrieked,  and  instantly 
became  insensible  from  a  delirium  of  joy.  The 
cbildren  ran  to  meet  their  father,  and  sunk  without 
utterance  into  his  open  arms.  When  the  first  burst 
of  joy  was  over,  and  the  hero  turned  to  caress  him 
to  whom  he  immediately  owed  the  delight  he  had 
experienced,  Coison  began  his  attack.  He  recap- 
itulated the  letters  of  Bonaparte  and  Le  Clerc ;  he 
invited  him  to  accede  to  them,  and  represented  the 
advantages  resulting  from  his  submission  in  such 
glowing  colors  as  could  hardly  fail  to  awaken  some 
suspicions.  He  perfidiously  declared  that  the  arma- 
ment was  not  designed  to  abridge  the  liberty  of 
the  blacks,   and  concluded  with   observing  that, 


THE   REPUBLIC  OF  HAYTI.  Ill 

unless  the  proposed  conditions  were  immediately- 
acceded  to  his  orders  were  to  return  the  children 
to  the  Cape. 

Toussaint  retired  for  a  few  moments  from  the 
presence  of  his  wife  and  children,  to  weigh  the  im- 
port of  their  common  supplication.  His  awakened 
reason  instantly  discovered  the  snare  which  had 
been  laid  to  entrap  him,  and  he  therefore  indignant- 
ly replied:  "Take  back  my  children,  if  it  must  be 
so ;  I  will  be  faithful  to  my  brethren  and  my  God  1"* 
then,  mounting  his  horse,  rode  off  to  the  camp, 
from  which  place  he  returned  a  formal  answer  to 
Le  Clerc. 

Unfortunately  Le  Clerc's  bribery  was  not  so  in- 
effectual in  other  quarters.  Many  of  Toussaint's 
generals  were  induced  to  listen  to  the  promises  of 
Le  Clerc,  and 

"  To  sell  for  gold  what  gold  could  never  buy." 

Among  these  was  an  officer  named  La  Plume,  who 
by  his  treachery  threw  a  large  district  into  the  hands 
of  the  French,  and  also  revealed  to  them  those 
plans  of  operation  with  which  Toussaint  had  en- 
trusted him. 

Such  an  act  on  the  part  of  La  Plume,  in  whom 

*    R;iiiis(ord. 


112  SUMMER   ON  THE   CARIBBEAN. 

Toussaint  liaJ  placed  unlimited  confidence,  could 
not  but  cause  him  to  distrust  those  who  remained 
attached  to  the  common  cause ;  and  who,  perceiv- 
ing these  suspicions,  grew  lax  in  the  obedience 
which  they  owed  to  his  commands. 

On  the  2-ith  of  February  a  severe  battle  took 
place  between  the  French  troops  under  General 
Eochambeau,  and  those  under  General  Toussaint, 
consisting  of  1,500  grenadiers,  1,200  other  chosen 
soldiers,  and  400  dragoons.  The  position  of  the 
blacks  was  extremely  well  chosen,  being  in  a  ravine 
fortified  by  nature  and  protected  by  works  of  art. 
Eochambeau,  availing  himself  of  his  local  knowl- 
edge of  the  country,  which  he  had  obtained  from 
La  Plume,  entered  the  ravine  with  as  much  address 
as  Toussaint  could  have  manifested,  avoided  the 
obstacles  which  had  been  thrown  in  his  way,  and 
commenced  an  attack  on  the  entrenchments  of  the 
blacks.  Toussaint  was  prepared  to  receive  him, 
and  a  desperate  battle  ensued,  in  which  both  skill 
and  courage  were  alike  conspicuous.  The  day  was 
extremely  bloody,  and  the  field  which  victory  hesi- 
tated to  bestow  on  either  party  was  covered  with 
the  bodies  of  the  slain.  Both  parties  at  the  close 
of  the  day  retired  from  the  scene  of  action  to  pro- 
vide rather  for  their  future  safety  than  to  renew  a 
fierce  contention  for  a  mere  point  of  honor. 


THE   REPUBLIC   OF   IIAYTI.  113 

Eochambeau  hastened  with  the  remains  of  his 
division  to  join  the  French  troops  in  the  western 
province,  who  were  nnable  to  withstand  the  force 
of  the  black  General  Maurepas.  Tlie  troops  thus 
collected  were  put  in  action,  and  the  doubtful  issue 
of  battle  was  expected  to  decide  their  fortune.  But 
Le  Clerc  had  recourse  to  his  usual  manceuvres,  and 
Maurepas,  seduced  with  the  promise  of  retaining 
his  rank  under  the  auspices  of  Le  Clerc,  submitted 
to  the  French  general  without  a  struggle,  and  gave 
his  posts  into  the  enemy's  hands. 

Le  Clerc,  finding  he  could  conquer  the  blacks 
much  more  readily  by  winning  their  confidence 
tlian  by  swords,  redoubled  his  efforts  in  this  direc- 
tion. The  number  of  his  emissaries  was  increased  ; 
their  powers  were  enlarged,  and  they  were  sent 
forth  as  the  missionaries  of  seduction  to  induce 
the  unsuspecting  inhabitants  to  put  on  their  chains. 
Success  in  proportion  to  his  professions  attended 
their  exertions.  Even  Christophe  was  induced  to 
believe  that  the  late  proclamation?,  in  which  Le  Clerc 
promised  liberty  to  all,  were  sincere.  And,  finally, 
Toussaint,  willing  to  prevent  the  effusion  of  blood, 
gave  way  to  the  representations  of  Christophe,  who 
immediately  entered  into  correspondence  with  Le 
Clerc. 


114  .SL'MMKli    ON    TJIJO    CAlilHBEAX. 

A  truce  was  formed  on  the  ground  of  an  oblivion 
of  the  past,  the  freedom  of  the  men  in  arms,  and 
the  preservation  of  his  own  rank,  that  of  Toussaint 
and  Dessalines,  and  all  the  officers  in  connection 
with  them.  This  proposition  was  made  by  Chris- 
tophc,  and  agreed  to  by  Toussaint ;  but  Dessalines, 
dreading  such  an  unnatural  compromise,  submitted 
only  under  protest.  Tiie  proposals,  after  some  hesi- 
tation on  the  part  of  Le  Clerc,  were  accepted. 

Hostilities  ceased  on  the  1st  of  May. 

Not  one  month  past  before  Le  Clerc  seized  Tous- 
saint, his  family,  and  about  one  hundred  of  his  im- 
mediate associates,  and  placed  them  as  prisoners  on 
board  the  vessels  then  lying  in  the  harbor.  ^Many 
of  the  blacks  were  ordered  to  return  to  their  labors 
under  their  ancient  masters. 

Toussaint,  amazed  at  such  an  act  of  treachery 
and  baseness,  inquired  the  cause,  but  could  ob- 
tain no  other  reply  than  that  he  must  instantly 
depart.  For  himself  he  offered  no  excuse,  declar- 
ing that  he  was  read}^  to  accompany  his  abductors 
in  obedience  to  his  orders  ;  but  as  his  wife  was 
feeble  and  his  children  helpless,  he  begged  earnestly 
that  they  nnght  be  permitted  to  remain.  His  ex- 
postulations were  of  course  urged  in  vain. 

Le  Clerc,  to  rid  the  isfland  for  ever  of  a  man 


THE   REPUBLIC   OF    IIAYTI.  115 

whom  lie  both  feared  and  detested,  prepared,  soon 
after  the  capture  of  Toussaint,  to  send  him  to  Europe, 
and  with  him  a  letter  of  accusation  at  once  false, 
criminal,  and  malicious.  A  letter  more  dishonor- 
able never  crossed  the  Atlantic,  Upon  his  arri- 
val in  France,  Toussaint  was  immediately  sent  to 
prison  in  a  remote  province  in  the  interior,  and 
entirely  secluded  from  the  society  of  men. 

Shut  up  in  melancholy  silence,  in  a  dungeon  hor- 
rid, damp,  and  cold,  his  suffering  was  not  long. 
The  Paris  journals  of  April  27,  1803,  say  this — 
no  more  and  no  less  :   "  Toussaint  died  in  prison." 

As  to  his  wife  and  children,  they  remained  in 
close  custody  at  Brest  for  about  two  months  after 
their  only  friend  was  torn  from  them.  They  were 
then  removed  to  the  same  province  in  which  Tous- 
saint had  been  imprisoned,  without  knowing  any- 
thing either  of  his  proximity  or  his  fate.  In  this 
place,  reduced  to  distress,  they  continued  neglected 
and  forgotten,  a  sad  spectacle  of  fallen  greatness. 

Such  was  the  fate  of  Toussaint  L'Ouverturo,  the 
Washington^  but  not  "  the  Napoleon,''''  of  Hayti. 


LETTER   XIII. 
I?,epiil>lio    orilfiyti. 

THE  WAR    RENEWED "  LIBERTY  OR    DEATo" EXPULSION    OF  THE 

FRENCH THE  AURORA  OF  PEACE JEAN  JACQUES    DESSALINES, 

FIRST  EMPEROR  OF  HAYTI PRINCIPAL  EVENTS   UP    TO    PRESENT 

DATE GEFFRARD    AND    EDUCATION POSSIBLE    FUTURE. 


"  This  is  the  moral  of  all  human  tales : 
'Tis  but  the  same  rehearsal  of  the  past — 
First  freedom,  and  then  glorj-." 

— CniLDE  Harold. 

fHE  violent  and  perfidious  measures  to  which 
Le  Clerc  had  resorted  produced  an  effect  dia- 
metrically opposed  to  that  which  he  intended.  On 
the  distant  mountains,  particularly  toward  the  Span- 
ish division,  innumerable  hosts  of  blacks  had  taken 
up  their  residence  and  assumed  a  species  of  lawless 
violence.  They  ridiculed  ever}^  idea  of  a  surrender 
to  the  Europeans,  notwithstanding  the  compromise 
which  had  been  made  with  Toussaint  and  Cliris- 
tophe.  Even  among  those  who  had  submitted,  the 
sudden  seizure  of  their  brave  leader  and  about  one 
hundred  of  his  enlightened  associates,  of  whose  fate 
they  could  receive  no  satisfactory  account,  but  who 
was  supposed  to  have  been  murdered  by  Le  Clerc, 


THE   REPUBLIC   OF   HAYTI.        .  117 

produced  a  spirit  of  indignation  which  was  poured 
forth  in  execrations  portending  an  approaching 
storm. 

Le  Clerc,  seated  on  his  painful  eminence,  saw  in 
a  great  measure  the  danger  of  his  situation,  and  en- 
deavored to  counteract  the  impending  evil.  But 
death  at  this  moment  was  lessening  the  number  of 
his  troops,  and  sickness  disabling  the  survivors  from 
performing  the  common  duties  of  their  stations. 

Dessalines,  whose  talents  and  valor,  recognized  by 
his  countrymen,  had  caused  him  to  be  appointed  to 
act  as  General-in-Chief,  resolved  not  to  dally  with 
his  faithless  foes  as  Toussaint  had  done,  but  to  bring 
this  ferocious  war  to  a  speedy  and  decisive  issue. 
Impressed  Avith  this  resolution,  he  drew  a  consider- 
able force  into  the  plain  of  Cape  Fran9ois,  with  a 
design  to  attack  the  city.  Eochambeau,  perceiving 
his  movements,  exerted  himself  to  strengthen  the 
fortifications  of  the  city,  after  which  he  determined 
to  risk  a  general  engagement. 

Both  parties  were  as  well  prepared  for  the  event 
as  circumstances  would  admit.  The  attack  was  be- 
gun by  the  French  with  the  utmost  resolution,  and 
from  the  violence  of  the  onset  the  troops  of  Dessa- 
lines gave  way  for  a  moment,  and  a  considerable 
number  fell  prisoners  into  the  hands  of  the  French. 
6* 


118  SUMMER   ON   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

But  the  power  and  courage  of  the  blacks  soon  re- 
turned. The  French  were  repulsed ;  and  as  a  body 
of  them  were  marching  to  strengthen  one  of  the 
wings  of  their  army,  they  were  unexpectedly  sur- 
rounded by  the  blacks,  made  prisoners  of  war,  and 
driven  in  triumph  to  their  camp. 

With  these  vicissitudes  terminated  the  day.  At 
night  the  French  general,  to  the  disgrace  of  Europe, 
ordered  the  black  prisoners  to  be  put  to  death.  The 
order  was  executed  with  circumstances  of  peculiar 
barbarity.  ■  Some  perished  on  the  spot ;  others 
were  mutilated  in  their  limbs,  legs,  and  vital  parts, 
and  left  in  that  horrible  condition  to  disturb  with 
their  shrieks  and  groans  the  silence  of  the  night. 

But  Kochambeau  had  to  deal  with  a  very  differ- 
ent man  from  Toussaint — a  man  whose  motto  was, 
"  Never  to  retaliate  f  for  under  cover  of  the  same  in- 
auspicious night  Dessalines  deliberately  selected  the 
ofl&cers  from  among  his  prisoners,  then  added  a 
number  of  privates,  and  gibbeted  them  all  together 
in  a  place  most  exposed  to  the  French  army. 

Nor  did  the  revenge  of  the  black  soldiers  termi- 
nate even  here.  Burning  with  indignation  against 
the  men  whose  conduct  had  stimulated  them  to 
such  inhuman  deeds,  they  rushed  down  upon  the 
French  the  ensuing  morning,  destroyed  the  camp, 


THE  REPUBLIC   OF   IIAYTI.  119 

made  a  terrible  slaughter,  and  compelled  the  flying 
fugitives  to  take  refuge  under  the  walls  of  Cape 
rran9ois.  From  this  period  the  French  were  una- 
ble to  face  tlieir  opponents  in  the  open  field,  and 
the  victorious  Dessalines  imrQediatelj  took  steps  to 
crush  them  in  the  city. 

To  add  to  the  calamities  of  the  French  command- 
er, the  war  between  England  and  France  was  again 
renewed  during  this  period  of  his  distress.  Unfor- 
tunately, however,  he  remained  uninstructed  by 
past  experience,  and  his  cruelty  seemed  to  increase 
with  the  desperation  of  his  circumstances.  Pent  up 
in  the  city,  from  which  his  forces  durst  not  venture 
in  a  body,  he  contrived  to  detach  small  parties  with 
bloodhounds  to  hunt  down  a  few  straggling  ne- 
groes, who  wandered  through  the  woods  uncon- 
scious of  the  impending  danger.  These  when  taken 
were  seized  with  brutal  triumph,  and  thrown  to 
the  dogs  to  be  devoured  alive. 

Amid  scenes  and  horrors  as  infamous  as  these, 
Le  Clerc  was  summoned  by  the  fever  to  appear  be- 
fore a  higher  tribunal  to  give  an  account  of  his 
deeds  of  darkness.  He  died  on  the  1st  of  Novem- 
ber, after  having  been  driven  from  Tortuga,  his 
previous  place  of  abode.  Madame  Le  Clerc  was 
present  at  the  awful  scene;  then,  departing  with  the 


120  SUMMER   ON  THE   CARIBBEAN. 

body  for  Europe,  bade  a  final  farewell  to  a  region 
wliich  had  promised  her  happiness,  but  paid  her 
with  anguish  and  niortification. 

It  was  in  the  month  of  July  that  an  English 
squadron,  not  fully  apprised  of  the  condition  of  the 
French  army,  made  its  appearance  off  the  cape. 
This  circumstance  completely  overwhelmed  the  be- 
sieged commander,  who,  while  the  blacks  were 
fiercely  crowding  upon  him,  was  perfectly  conscious 
of  his  vulnerable  condition  as  exposed  to  the  Brit- 
ish, lie  therefore  opened  a  communication  with 
the  latter  to  learn  what  terms  of  capitulation  he  had 
to  expect  in  case  a  proposition  of  that  kind  should 
be  made.  The  terms  required  by  the  British  being 
dreadfully  severe,  Rochambeau  lost  no  time  in 
strengthening  the  works  towards  the  sea  as  well  as 
towards  the  land,  having  every  thing  to  fear  from 
both  quarters. 

Meanwhile  the  victorious  blacks  continued  to 
pour  in  reinforcements  upon  the  plains  of  the  cape. 
A  powerful  body  now  descended  upon  the  French, 
and,  having  passed  the  outer  lines  and  several  block- 
houses, prepared  to  storm  the  city  in  thirty-six 
hours. 

Rochambeau,  from  a  persuasion  that  all  would 
be  put  to  the  sword,  proceeded  before  it  was  too 


THE   REPUBLIC   OF   HAYTI.  121 

late  to  offer  articles  of  capitulation,  which,  to  tlie  hon- 
or of  Dessalines,  by  foregoing  the  desire  of  revenge, 
were  accepted,  granting  the  French  ten  days  to  evac- 
uate the  city — "  an  instance  of  forbearance  and  mag- 
nanimity," says  Rainsford,  "of  which  there  are  not 
many  examples  in  ancient  or  modern  history." 

The  articles  of  capitulation  which  Rochambeau 
had  entered  into  were  communicated  by  Dessalines 
to  the  British  commodore.  The  latter,  therefore, 
awaited  the  expiration  of  the  appointed  time  to  mark 
the  important  event.  When  the  time  had  elapsed, 
Commodore  Loring,  perceiving  no  movement  of 
the  French  towards  evacuation,  sent  a  letter  to  Gen- 
eral Dessalines  to  inquire  if  any  alteration  had  taken 
place  subsequent  to  his  last  communication,  and  if 
not,  to  request  him  to  send  some  pilots  on  board  to 
conduct  his  squadron  into  the  harbor  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  French  shipping.  To  this  letter  he 
received  the  following  characteristic  reply  : — 

"LIBERTY  OR  DEATH! 

"Head-Quarters,  Nov.  27,  1803. 
"TAe  Commander-in-Chief  of  the   Native  Army  to 

Commodore  Lo7'ing,  etc.,  etc. : 

"Sir: — I  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  letter, 
and  you  may  be  assured  that  my  disposition  to- 


122  SUMMEIl  ON   TIIK   CARIBBEAN. 

ward  you  cand  against  General  Rochambeau  is  in- 
varialjle. 

*'  I  sliall  take  possession  of  the  cape  to-morrow 
morning  at  the  head  of  my  army.  It  ls  a  matter  of 
great  regret  to  me  that  I  cannot  send  you  the  pilots 
which  you  require.  I  presume  that  you  will  have 
no  occasion  for  them,  as  I  shall  compel  the  French 
vessels  to  quit  the  road,  and  you  will  do  with  them 
what  you  shall  think  proper. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  etc.,  etc., 

"Dessalines." 

Scarcely  had  Commodore  Loring  entered  the  har- 
bor on  the  morning  of  the  30th,  before  he  was  met 
by  an  officer  of  the  French  troops  then  going  in 
quest  of  the  English  to  request  them  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  ships  in  the  name  of  His  Britannic 
Majesty.  This,  he  observed,  was  the  only  method 
left  by  which  they  could  be  saved  from  inevitable 
destruction,  as  the  black  general  was  at  that  mo- 
ment preparing  to  fire  upon  them  with  red-hot  shot, 
and  the  wind,  blowing  directly  into  the  mouth  of 
the  harbor,  prevented  their  departure. 

The  whole  of  the  French  troops  and  shipping,  in- 
cluding seventeen  merchant  vessels  and  about  8,000 
soldiers  and  seamen,  thus  falling  into  the  hands  of 
the  British,  were  conveyed  to  England,  arri\nng  at 


THE   REPUBLIC    OF   HAYTI.  123 

Portsmouth  on  the  3d  of  February,  1804,  from 
whence  the  troops  were  taken  into  the  interior  and 
paroled  as  prisoners  of  war. 

Thus  ended  this  visionary  expedition  through 
which  ]N'apoleon  and  Le  Clcrc  flattered  themselves 
and  the  country  that  the  inhabitants  of  Ilayti  were 
to  be  again  reduced  to  slavery  ;  and  thus,  by  the 
unrelenting  determination  of  Dessalines,  were  the 
fearful  thunderbolts  of  war  made  to  recoil  on  the 
heads  of  those  who  hurled  them. 

THE  AURORA  OF   PEACE. 

The  "Aurora  of  Peace"  which  Dessalines  and 
his  colleagues  had  predicted,  was  now  ushered  in. 
On  the  14th  of  May  following  Dessalines  departed 
from  the  cape,  determined,  like  his  unfortunate  pre- 
decessor Toussaint,  to  make  a  tour  through  the 
island-,  to  note  the  manners  which  prevailed,  and  to 
observe  how  far  the  regulations  he  had  already  in- 
troduced were  enforced,  and  what  beneficial  effects 
had  resulted  from  their  adoption. 

During  this  journey  the  people,  animated  by  the 
presence  of  their  victorious  chief,  resolved  to  exalt 
him  to  the  dignity  of  emperor.  Whether  any  in- 
trigue had  been  used  on  this  occasion  by  Dessalines, 
or  that  the  offer  was  a  pure  emanation  of  gratitude 


124  SUMMER   ON   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

originating  with  the  people,  it  is  impossible  to  say. 
This  much,  however,  is  certain,  that  the  proposal 
was  accepted  without  any  reluctance,  and  in  due 
time  he  was  enthroned  as  Jean  Jacques  Dessalines^ 
the  first  emperor  of  Hayti.  This  was  at  Port  au 
Prince,  on  the  8th  of  October. 

After  the  imposing  ceremonies  which  necessa- 
rily attended  the  imperial  coronation,  the  people, 
not  forgetful  of  Him  who  had  guided  them  through 
this  arduous  struggle  in  defence  of  those  rights  with 
•which  He  had  originally  endowed  them,  marched 
to  the  church,  where  a  Te  Deum  was  sung  to  com- 
memorate the  important  transactions  of  this  memo- 
rable day.  From  this  place  of  solemnity  the  whole 
procession  returned  in  the  oraer  in  which  they 
came  to  the  government  house  ;  after  which  a  grand 
illumination  took  place  in  all  parts  of  the  city, 
amid  the  roaring  of  cannon  and  every  demonstra- 
tion of  joy  that  both  language  and  action  could 
possibly  express. 

In  tracino;  the  narrative  of  this  remarkable  revo- 
lution,  we  have  purposely  omitted  the  invasion  of 
the  British  from  1793  to  1798.  Suffice  it  to  say, 
that  after  a  profuse  waste  of  blood  and  treasure 
during  five  years.  Great  Britain  Avas  constrained  to 
withdraw  the  remnant  of  her  troops,  acknowledge 


THE   KEPUBLIC   OF    IJAYTI.  125 

the  independence  of  the  island  as  a  neutral  power, 
and  relinquish  forever  all  pretensions  to  Hayti. 

Such,  then,  is  a  brief  outline  of  the  principal  features 
in  the  history  of  this  new-born  empire,  as  recorded 
by  Edwards,  Eainsford,  and  Coke,  and  as  given  me 
from  the  lips  of  veterans  yet  upon  the  soil.  The 
principal  changes  since  are  briefly  these : 

The  reign  of  the  emperor  Dessalines  was  short 
and  turbulent,  and  his  designs  against  the  mulat- 
toes  cost  him  his  life.  After  the  death  of  Dessa- 
lines, (in  1807,)  General  Christophe  was  made  chief 
magistrate,  and  in  1811  he  crowned  himself  King 
Henri  I.  Meanwhile  the  mulattoes  having  cause  to 
distrust  liim  also,  elected  General  Petion,  a  compan- 
ion of  Kigaud,  to  preside  in  the  south-west,  which 
he  did  with  great  leniency  and  to  the  entire  satis- 
faction of  his  constituents,  by  many  of  whom  he  is 
still  affectionately  remembered.  lie  died  in  1818. 
Christophe  shot  himself  in  1820.  In  1822,  Boycr, 
who  had  been  elected  President,  united  the  whole 
island  under  his  government. 

And  this  brings  the  chain  of  events  up  to  those 
mentioned  in  our  review  of  tlic  history  of  the  Span- 
ish part  of  the  island,  to  wliieli  the  reader  can  refer 
for  a  statement  of  the  principal  changes  from  that 
time  to  the  present. 


126  SUMMER  ON   THE   CAIIIBJJEAN. 

Under  President  Geffrard  the  country  is  highly 
prosperous,  such  confidence  being  placed  in  the 
government  that  its  paper  currency  is  preferred  by 
the  people  to  silver  coin. 

Under  Protestant  influences,  also,  several  large 
schools,  in  which  hundreds  of  young  girls  and  boys 
are  being  educated,  promise  in  due  time  to  present 
to  the  world  a  virtuous  female  offspring  of  these  he- 
roic revolutionists,  adorned  by  all  the  graces  attend- 
ing the  use  of  both  the  French  and  English  lan- 
guages, and  a  body  of  youths  skilled  at  once  in 
commerce,  and  in  the  sciences  of  government,  the 
sword,  the  anvil,  and  the  plow. 

The  president  desires  the  immigration  hither  of 
young  men  and  ladies  who  are  capable  of  teaching 
French,  "and  also  to  undertake,"  he  says,  'Hhe 
courses  of  our  lyceums.  In  this  case  they  would 
find  employment  immediately." 

It  is  difl&cult  to  believe  these  fields  of  natural 
beauty,  embellished  with  all  the  decorations  of  art, 
have  at  any  time  presented  to  earth  and  heaven 
such  spectacles  of  horror  as  to  cause  even  Europe, 
accustomed  as  it  is  to  blood  and  fire,  to  stand  aghast, 
and  which  will  serve  Americans  as  a  finger-board 
of  terror  so  long  as  slavery   there   exists.     The 


THE    IlEPUBLIC   OF   IIAYTI.  127 

torcli  of  conflagration  and  the  sword  of  destruction 
have  marched  in  fearful  union  through  the  land, 
and  covered  the  hills  and  plains  with  desolation. 
Tyranny,  scorn,  and  retaliating  vengeance  have 
displayed  their  utmost  rage,  and  in  the  end  have 
given  birth  to  an  empire  which  has  not  only  hurled 
its  thunderbolts  on  its  assailants,  but  at  this  mo- 
ment bids  defiance  to  the  world. 

In  the  days  of  imperial  Rome  it  was  the  custom 
of  Cicero  and  his  haughty  contemporaries  to  sneer 
at  the  wretchedness  and  barbarity  of  the  Britons, 
just  as  Americans  speak  of  lla3^ticus  to-day  ;  yet 
when  we  reflect  how  analogous  the  history  of  the 
seven-hilled  city  and  that  of  the  United  States 
promises  to  be,  that  Ilayti  may  yet  become  the 
counterpart  of  England,  head-quarters  of  a  colored 
American  nationality,  and  supreme  mistress  of  the 
Caribbean  sea,  she  can  well  afford  to  leave 

"  Tliinffs  of  tlio  future  to  dUe." 


LETTER  XI Y. 
Gx'and    Xwrlc's   ancl    CaicoH     iKlnndN. 

AN  ISLAND   OF   SALT— SIR   EDWARD   JORDAN,  OF  JAMAICA nONOB 

TO  THE  BRITISH  QUEEN — A  STORY  IN  PARENTHESIS — THE  POETRT 
OF  S.ULING. 


"  Had  ancient  poets  known  this  little  spot — 
Poets  who  formed  rich  Edens  in  their  thought — 
Arcadia's  vales,  Calypso's  verdant  bowers, 
Ilesperia's  groves,  and  Tempe's  gayest  flowers, 
Had  ne'er  appeared  so  beautiful  and  fair 
As  these  gay  rocks  and  emerald  islands  are." 

fT  is  usually  no  more  to  "dande  round"  this 
sea  than  it  is  to  cross  Lake  Erie.  On  this  par- 
ticular occasion,  howeVer,  I  very  willingly  reached 
these  shores,  for  the  little  schooner  Enterprise  in 
which  we  had  ventured  was  not  much  larger  than 
a  good-sized  yawl — certainly  not  over  six  tons 
burthen.  The  waves  inundated  us  at  pleasure, 
wetting  even  the  letters  in  my  breast  coat-pocket, 
filling  our  foces  at  times  with  its  slashing  foam,  and 
drenching  us  thoroughly  to  the  inmost  thread. 
But  our  schooner  skimmed  along  like  a  sea- 
gull, and  within  thirty-two  hours  we  were  once 
again  on  land,  dry  enough  for  all  practical  purposes. 


GRA-ND  Turk's  and  caicos  islands.     129 

Nice  little  schooner — the  waves  might  as  well  have 
undertaken  to  drown  a  fish  ! 

There  is  not  a  natural  hill  on  all  Turk's  Island. 
The  shores  are  but  a  few  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
sea,  and  the  interior  is  scooped  out  like  a  basin. 
This  basin  is  artificially  subdivided  into  innumer- 
able troughs  or  ponds,  into  which  water  is  admitted 
by  canals  from  the  sea,  whence  it  evaporates 
leaving  beds  of  salt.  This  salt  is  then  raked  into 
hills,  so  that  as  you  approach  these  shores  you  have 
the  extraordinary  sight  of  an  island  studded  with 
salt-hills. 

The  slight  elevation  of  the  land  also  permits  the 
wind  to  pass  uninterruptedly  over  its  limestone 
surface,  which  accounts  for  the  even  temperature 
and  perfect  health  of  the  island.  The  thermometer 
fell  to-day  from  86°  to  77°  Fahrenheit,  which  is  the 
hottest  and  the  coldest  tlicy  have  had  it  this  sum- 
mer. But,  as  you  will  readily  perceive,  the 
absence  of  all  barriers  to  the  winds  subjects  the 
colony  to  the  terrific  ravages  of  every  ocean  storm 
that  chooses  to  sweep  this  way.  At  this  very 
moment  the  large  and  substantial  mansion  in  which 
I  am  writing  trembles  like  an  aspen-leaf,  aud  I  am 
fearful  that  the  few  cocoa-nut  trees  and  flower 
plants  bending  before  the  storm  on  every  side  will 


130  SUMMER   ON   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

be  speedily  swept  away.  Heaven  spare  the  verdure  I 
— the  people  can  look  out  for  themselves.  Gener- 
ally speaking,  the  winds  are  soft  as  a  sigh.  The 
gale  ebbs  to  a  gentle  zephyr ;  the  cloud  passes  on  to 
Mobile,  or  wherever  else  it  is  bound,  leaving  these 
islands  gayer  for  its  shower ;  the  huge  West  Indian 
sun,  apparently  magnified  to  six  times  its  usual 
diameter,  sinks  into  the  crimsoned  sea ;  the  heaven- 
ly twilight  comes  on  once  more,  and  earth,  sea,  and 
sky  are  all  once  again  tranquilly  imparadised.  The 
effect  of  these  transitions  on  the  mind  is  imperative. 
The  most  commonplace,  matter-of-fact  personage 
you  have  in  America  can  not  spend  a  summer 
around  these  islands  and  amid  these  scenes  without 
having  transitory  poetic  visions  flash  through  his 
inmost  being.  But  do  not  think  I  intend  to  dwell 
any  further  on  these  Elysian  things.  If  you  have 
a  correspondent  capable  of  describing  them,  send 
him  along.  A  keen  sense  of  my  inability  to  do  so 
constrains  me  to  desist  as  from  an  attempt  to  com- 
prehend the  Infinite. 

According  to  the  theory  of  certain  American 
statesmen,  Turk's  Island  properly  belongs  to  Uayti ; 
at  least,  it  is  on  the  borders  of  the  Haytien  sea,  and 
and  is  as  much  beholden  to  Hayti  for  its  support 
as  Cuba  is  to  the  United  States.      As  luck  has  it, 


\ 

GEAND  TURK'S  AND   CAICOS   ISLANDS.        131 

however,  Turk's  Island  really  belongs  to  the  British, 
and  Cuba,  it  would  seem, 

"By  some  o'-  r  liasty  angel  was  misplaced.'' 

These,  then,  are  a  group  of  the  celebrated  British 
West  Indies,  and  form  a  part  of  the  governmental 
jurisdiction  of  Jamaica.  It  is  with  rare  pleasure 
that  I  mention  the  latter  fact,  (since  "  next  to  being 
great  one's  self  it  is  desirable  to  have  a  true  relish 
for  greatness,")  for  it  gives  me  an  opportunity  to  in- 
form you  that  the  order  of  knighthood  has  recently 
been  conferred  by  Uer  Britannic  Majesty  on  Sir^ 
Edward  Jordan,  Mayor  of  the  city  of  Kingston  and 
Prime  Minister  of  Jamaica — a  degree  of  dignity 
never  before  attained  by  a  colored  man,  as  I  be- 
lieve, since  the  British  government  began.  The 
day  of  the  Anglo-African  in  America  has  not  j-et 
clearly  dawned,  but  it  is  dawning.  A  great  man}'- 
of  the  officers  here,  too,  are  colored.  How  strange 
it  seems  to  stand  before  a  large,  fine-looking  black 
or  colored  man,  entitled  Sir,  Honorable,  Esquire, 
and  the  like !  To  save  me,  I  cannot  realize  it, 
although  I  see,  hear,  and  shake  hands  witli  them 
every  day. 

But  the  grand  source  of  interest  to  you  and  to  me 
is,  of  course,  the  slaves  manumitted  by  the  mag- 


132  SUMMER  ON   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

naaimity  of  the  Briti.sli  government  some  twenty- 
six  years  agone.  It  is  strangely  interesting  to  hear 
them  tell  of  parties  making  their  escape  to  Ilayti 
by  sail-boats  previous  to  the  act  of  emancipation, 
sometimes  sailing  swift  and  direct,  and  at  others 
dodging  under  the  lee  of  the  Caicos  reefs  until  pur- 
suit had  been  suspended,  reminding  one  much  of 
our  Canadian  friends.  The  history  of  the  escape 
of  slaves  in  our  day  is  as  full  of  heroism  as  any 
history  in  the  world. 

The  neatness  and  cleanly  appearance  of  the  masses 
are  actually  surprising.  I  say  it  with  all  due  respect, 
but,  take  them  all  in  all,  the  colored  people  really 
present  a  better  appearance  than  the  whites.  The 
latter,  however,  for  reasons  which  you  will  already 
have  anticipated,  are  of  course  more  wealthy  and 
intelligent — for  which  reason,  also,  they  have  here- 
tofore been  entirely  at  the  head  of  political  affairs. 
It  is  only  recentl}^  that  the  blacks,  who  are  in  the 
majority,  began  to  tread  on  their  political  heels. 
Some  of  the  whites  do  not  like  to  see  this,  but  the 
easiest  way  for  them  is  to  allow  themselves  to  be 
peacefully  absorbed  by  the  colored  race  in  these 
regions,  for  their  destiny-  is  sealed. 

The  Caicos  Islands,  like  most  of  the  Bahamas,  are 
but  a  series  of  coral  reefs,  more  extensive  in  terri- 


GRAND  Turk's  and  caicos  islands,     133 

tory  and  less  sterile  tlian  this  portion  of  the  colony ; 
but  their  principal  products  arc  about  the  same — 
salt  and  shipwrecks.  They  are  at  once  "  the  resi- 
dence and  the  empire  of  danger."  An  American 
captain  is  now  here  selling  the  wreck  of  a  cargo  late- 
ly shipped  from  Boston  to  New  Orleans — (Captain 
Elliot,  ship  Nauset,  total  wreck  on  North  Caicos 
reef,  July  7,  1860.)  The  population  of  the  group 
inclusive  is  about  five  thousand,  principally  colored, 
who  are  remarkably  industrious,  if  one  is  to  judge 
from  the  rapidity  with  which  they  load  a  vessel 
with  salt ;  and  the  essentially  limited  resources  of  the 
island  would  seem  to  admit  of  their  being  equally 
virtuous.  Churches  abound,  and  schooling  may 
be  had  at  the  rate  of  three  cents  per  week.  Every 
thing  is  due  to  the  English  missionary  societies  for 
the  healthy  tone  of  morality  and  religion  which 
prevails  in  these  islands,  and  I  must  say,  as  I  be- 
lieve, chiefly  to  the  Baptists. 

But  the  great  characteristic  and  most  amusing 
peculiarity  of  these  people  is  their  inordinate  at- 
tachment to  the  British  crown.  A  captain  of  a 
schooner  on  the  coast  (black,  but  thoroughly  Brit- 
ish) one  day  overheard  some  reckless  fellow  speak 
disrespectfully  of  Queen  Victoria.  About  every  thing 
he  thought  of  or  said  during  the  rest  of  the  voyage 
7 


i^ii  SUMMEK   ON    'IIIE    CAlllJJBEAN. 

was,  "  He  insult  my  Queen,"  repeating  "  He  insult 
my  Queen"  over  and  over  again.  They  seem  to 
regard  Queen  Victoria  with  about  the  same  rever- 
ence that  the  Spanish  Catholics  bestow  upon  the 
Virgin  Mary.  Nor  do  I  blame  them  for  this,  since, 
if  England  were  crippled  to-day,  it  would  be  difficult 
to  say  what  would  become  of  the  world's  humanity. 
It  would  be  like  extinguishing  the  sun ! 

Every  thing  is  salty.  You  stand  a  chance  to  get 
some  Boston  ice  here,  which  is  a  rara  avis  in  this 
direction ;  but  before  you  can  get  it  congealed  into 
cream  you  are  bound  to  get  salt  into  it,  it  would 
seem,  A  nice  saloon,  a  good  hotel,  three  churches, 
(English,  Wesleyan,  and  Baptist,)  and  a  first  class 
Masonic  lodge — at  the  head  of  which  is  a  colored 
Esquire — together  with  its  excessive  salt  propensi- 
ties, are  about  the  best  things  that  can  be  said  for 
Grand  Turk's  Island.  Stay!  I  forget  the  "  Royal 
Standard,"  a  weekly  journal,  to  the  editor  of  which 
I  am  under  obligations,  and  from  which  I  clip  the 
following 

NOTICE. 

On  the  first  of  August,  the  "  Friendly  Society" 
and  the  "  Benevolent  Union  Society"  of  Salt  Cay 
will  march  in  procession  from  the  Society  Hall,  at 


GRAND  Turk's  and  caicos  islands.      135 

11  o'clock  A.  M.,  to  the  Baptist  chapel,  where  a 
sermon  will  be  preached  by  the  Rev.  W.  K.  Rycoit 
on  the  occasion.     By  order,  etc., 

John  L.  Williams. 

So  much  for  the  land  of  salt,  and  a  fiirewcll  to 
its  happy  people,  the  most  that  can  be  said  of  whom 
is  that  they  worship  Queen  Victoria. 

(Let  me  tell  you  a  story.  In  passing  around 
these  islands,  we  are  one  day  with  the  Spanish,  next 
day  with  the  English,  and  the  third  with  the 
French.  It  is  sometimes  diverting,  I  was  sitting 
one  warm  afternoon  before  the  door  of  a  country- 
house,  having  a  large  green  sward-yard  sloping 
away  to  the  road.  The  house  was  full  of  children, 
some  of  whom  were,  or  pretended  to  be,  studying 
their  books.  Well,  suddenly  there  came  pouring 
down  a  splcndi<l  suiinncr  shower,  when,  without  a 
word,  half  a  dozen  of  these  little  rogues,  of  both 
sexes,  dropped  their  books,  stripped  off  to  the  skin, 
and  away  they  went  sailing  around  the  yard  like  so 
many  water  nymphs  !  In  five  minutes  more  they 
were  all  dressed,  sitting  down  with  their  books,  and 
looking  as  demure  as  if  nothing  had  happened. 
"  So  there  hadn't,"  except  that  one  plump  little  girl 
fell  heels  over  head!  That  is  one  way  of  taking  a 
shower  bath  I  never  thought  of) 


136  SUMMER   ON   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

By  the  way,  an  American  captain  was  this  clay 
looking  at  a  number  of  hands,  male  and  female,  en- 
gaged in  loading  a  vessel  with  salt.  The  women 
were  employed  holding  the  sacks,  and  tying  them 
when  filled. 

"  That's  a  smart  gal,''  said  the  Yankee  captain, 
pointing  to  an  ebon  Yenus  who  was  singing,  danc- 
ing, and  tossing  the  sacks  around  as  merrily  as  your 
city  girls  ever  "  pawed"  the  piano. 

A  sleek-faced  gentleman  turned  up  his  eyes  at 
us,  and  inquired :     "  You  lub  dis  gal,  Cap'en  ?" 

"Thunder,  no!"  said  the  astonished  American; 
"I  don't  love  anybody !"  Which  remark,  I  guess, 
was  not  very  far  from  the  truth. 

The  vessel  which  I  am  now  on  board  of  is  a  full- 
rigged,  finely-finished  English  brig.  Her  sails  are 
all  set,  the  wind  blows  fresh,  and  she  cuts  the  water 
like  a  sword-fish.  The  captain  cleared  $1,400  on 
his  trip  out,  with  a  cargo  of  lumber  from  the 
States.  How  much  will  our  friend  Wm.  Whipper 
make  in  a  year  running  his  craft  up  a  Canadian 
creek  ?  The  tenacity  with  which  our  leading 
colored  men  embrace  that  short-sighted  j^olicy 
which  teaches  them  to  confine  their  enterprises  to 
certain  proscribed,  prejudice-cursed  districts,  is  not 
only  extraordinary — it  is  marvellous. 


GRAND  Turk's  and  caicos  islands.     137 

The  heavenly  night  comes  on.  The  clouds  in 
the  sky  look  like  ships  on  fire.  The  rising  moon 
trembles  upon  the  silver-sheeted  waves  in  the  east, 
while  the  receding  sun  burnishes  the  west,  tinging 
the  waters  even  to  our  very  spray.  And  thus,  in 
this  sea  of  glory,  do  we  skim  along.  This  is  the 
"  poetry  of  sailing." 

"Thou  glorious,  shining,  billowy  sea, 
With  ecstasy  I  gaze  on  thee  I 
And  as  I  gaze,  thy  billowy  roll 
Wakes  the  deep  feelings  of  my  soul." 


LETTER   XV. 

British    IIoii<liiras. 

THE  ISLAND  OF  RUATAN — THE  SAILORS  LOVE  STORY — THE  SOV- 
EREIGNTY OF  THE  BAY  ISLANDS — ENGLISH  VS.  AilERIC.VN  VIEW 
OF   CENTRAL   AMERICAN   AFFAIRS. 

Off  Rmtan  the  New  "Gibralter,"  Flower  of  the  \ 
Bay  Islands,  and  "Key  to  Spanish. America."  ) 

[T  certainly  takes  the  impatience  out  of  one  to 
travel  very  much  on  a  sail  vessel.  The  dead 
certainty  of  your  getting  becalmed  annihilates 
even  contrary  anticipation.  But  instead  of  mur- 
muring at  the  irksome  roll  of  this  spell-bound  ship^ 
which  flaps  its  sails  as  vainly  as  a  bird  with  cropped 
wings,  I,  with  genuine  Spartan  philosophy,  will 
make  the  most  of  it  by  going  visiting,  that  is,  from 
the  cabin  to  the  forecastle.  Here  I  take  a  seat  beside 
an  American ;  (for,  my  dear  II.,  nobody  ever  knows 
what  true  friendship  is  until  they  have  been  ship- 
wrecked, nor  does  any  one  conceive  how  mutual 
are  the  sympathies  of  persons  coming  from  the 
same  country,  however  remote  their  positions  may 
have  been,  until  they  have  met  away  from  home, 


BRITISH   HONDURAS.  139 

and  been  surrounded  by  foreign  influences.  Strange 
as  it  may  seem,  I  have  not  met  a  colored  American 
out  this  way  but  who  actually  celebrates  the  Fourth 
of  July.) 

Instead  of  complaining  of  this  ghastly  calm,  as  I 
was  about  to  sa}'-,  I  take  a  scat  beside  my  friend 
Mr.  Johnson,  formerly  of  Plymouth,  Massachusetts, 
from  whom  I  learned  the  following  important  story, 
albeit,  a  love  story.  Important  because  it  shows 
the  correctness  of  that  theory  which  assumes  this, — 
the  infusion  of  Northern  blood  as  one  of  the  means 
by  which  the  more  sluggish  race  of  the  tropics 
is  to  be  quickened  and  given  energy,  and  also  how 
these  seductive  southern  zones  induce  persons  to 
sacrifice  kindred,  friends,  nnd  home,  in  order  to  live 
and  die  under  their  soothing  influences. 

The  story  is  this  ;  Some  years  ago  he  had  sailed 
from  Boston  to  Balize  with  a  cargo  of  ice ;  was 
taken  sick,  and  the  captain  of  his  vessel,  having 
made  all  possible  arrangements  for  his  comfort,  left 
him  in  the  hospital  to  recover.  He  did  so,  and 
was  just  on  the  eve  of  going  over  to  Jamaica  to 
get  on  board  a  ves.sel  in  which  to  return  home, 
when  up  stepped  an  elderly  man,  who  accosted 
him  in  English  and  also  in  Yankee,  to  wit :  "Guess 
you  are  from  the  States?"   to  which  Mr.  Johnson 


140  SUMMER   OX   TIIK   CAKIHBKAN. 

replied,  of  course,  "  You,  too,  I  suppose  ?"  The 
fact  is,  if  you  could  not  tell  an  American  away  from 
home  by  his  looks,  his  salutatory  phrases  are  as 
certain  as  an  oddfellow's  password. 

So  Mr.  Dickinson,  the  elderly  gentleman,  was 
from  the  States  also,  and  nothing  would  do  but 
Mr.  Johnson  must  accompany  him  to  his  home  in 
Ruatan,  there  to  spend  a  few  weeks  for  old  acquain- 
tance' sake,  and  meanwhile  strengthen  his  health. 
He  went ;  but  Mr.  Johnson  coming  from  the  States 
had  never  seen  so  lovely  an  -  island,  and  certainly 
none  so  prolific  as  Ruatan.  He  found  oranges  sell- 
ing for  one  dollar  per  barrel,  and  cocoa-nuts  at  a 
cent  apiece  ;  and  that  after  being  rowed  a  distance 
of  six  miles.  He  found  also  that  good  milch  cows 
could  be  bought  for  six  dollars  each ;  and  that 
upon  one  of  the  neighboring  islands  wild  cattle 
were  to  be  had  for  the  sport  of  catching.  On 
Utille,  another  island,  also,  almost  in  sight  of  Rua- 
tan, is  a  settlement  of  whites,  which,  though  small, 
is  in  a  very  flourishing  condition  ;  both  being  trib- 
utary to  Ruatan.  Altogether,  he  liked  the  appear- 
ance of  things  exceedingly. 

Mr.  Johnson  not  being  one  of  your  lazy  visitors, 
soon  began  to  make  himself  useful  by  assisting  his 
friend  Mr.  Dickinson  in  whatever  he  misrht  have  to 


BRITISH   HONDURAS.  141 

do ;  and  so  one  day,  with  pants  rolled  up  to  his 
knees,  he  went  over  to  a  neighbor's  to  borrow  some 
bags.  This  neighbor  had  a  pretty  niece  who  lived 
in  Nicaragua,  which  is  just  over  the  way,  and 
who  was  now  on  a  visit  to  her  uncle. 

It  was  near  dusk  ;  his  neighbor  was  not  at  home  ; 
but,  with  that  careless  indiflference  which  travellers 
in  the  tropics  will  appreciate,  he  walked  into  the 
shanty,  slightly  nodded  to  some  one  he  saw  sitting 
in  the  corner,  and  immediately  stretched  himself 
out  in  a  hammock. 

The  timid  girl,  less  frightened  at  this  rude  free- 
dom than  at  the  bushy  whiskers  of  the  Northerner, 
answered  his  inquiries  as  to  when  her  uncle  would 
be  in,  curtsied,  and  left  the  room ;  but  in  doing  so 
she  discovered  about  the  trimmest  ancle  and  the 
neatest  pair  of  stockings  Mr.  Johnson  had  ever 
beheld.  It  fixed  him.  He  could  not  sleep  afler 
that  without  dreaming  of  the  pretty  feet,  and,  of 
course,  pretty  owner. 

Mr.  Johnson  found  business  with  his  neighbor 
very  often.  The  divinity  went  over  home ;  Mr. 
Johnson  had  business  over  there  also ;  and  ^\  ith 
genuine  American  grit  obtained  the  old  man's  con- 
sent, and  actually  returned  with  his  daughter. 

Soon  after  this  Mr.  Johnson  received  froni  the 
7* 


142  SUMMER  ON   THE  CAKIBBEAN. 

States  the  mournful  intelligence  of  his  father's 
death,  and,  like  a  dutiful  son,  immediately  sailed 
for  Plymouth  to  see  his  mother  and  sisters.  His 
brother,  equally  anxious  with  his  mother  and 
friends  to  have  him  stop  at  home,  offered  him  a 
situation  as  clerk  in  a  lawyer's  office.  But,  alas ! 
those  pretty  feet  I  They  had  caused  him  to  sacri- 
fice his  home  ;  and  although  shipwrecked  in  the 
attempt,  he  is  now  back  in  Ruatan,  with  no  ex- 
pectation of  ever  meeting  his  Plymouth  friends 
again  during  life.  "  I  told  them,"  said  he,  "  she 
was  not  quite  so  white  as  some  of  them,  but  she's  a 
darn  sight  better-hearted  ;"  which  is  very  probably 
a  foct.  Mr.  Johnson  affirmed,  also,  that  he  could 
not  be  induced  to  leave  Ruatan  for  the  income  of 
the  most  princely  merchant  in  Boston ;  but  I  make 
allowances  for  a  man  who  has  a  young  wife  with 
pretty  feet. 

Ruatan,  as  you  are  aware,  is  the  principal  one  of 
the  celebrated  Bay  Islands,  the  sovereignty  of  which 
has  been  so  long  in  dispute.  Nor  can  I  settle  the 
question  as  to  whether  the  British  claim  is  just  or 
not ;  I  can  only  give  it  to  you  as  I  get  it. 

In  the  first  place  you  must  know  there  is  what 
may  be  called  two  Honduras.  That  is,  the  State  of 
Honduras,  and  these  Bay  Islands  with  a  portion 


BRITISH  HONDURAS.  143 

of  the  Mnsquito  coast,  constituting  British  Hon- 
duras, of  which  Balize  is  the  capital.  This  will 
relieve  a  great  many  blunders  people  have  perpet- 
ually fallen  into. 

When  or  by  whom  Euatan  was  originally  set- 
tled is  now  unknown.  It  was  discovered  by  the 
Spaniards,  and  was  afterwards  occupied  as  a  mili- 
tary post,  but  subsequently  abandoned.  Soon  after 
the  Emancipation  Act  took  effect  in  Jamaica  and  the 
other  British  isles,  a  number  of  these  emancipated 
slaves  settled  here,  and  the  settlement  is  now  mul- 
tiplied to  the  number  of  about  three  thousand. 

It  becoming  necessary  for  them  to  have  a  gov- 
ernment, they  sent  to  Jamaica  for  a  magistrate  to 
act  as  governor,  voting  him  a  salary  of  three  thou- 
sand dollars,  and,  being  British  subjects,  of  course 
looked  to  Great  Britain  for  protection.  And  so 
Great  Britain  claims  the  right  to  protect  them ;  and 
she  does  protect  them. 

It  was  off  this  island  that  the  pirate  Walker 
rendezvoused  the  present  summer ;  and  from  what 
I  have  said  respecting  the  immigration  hither  of  a 
few  white  Americans,  you  will  probably  su]-)pose 
there  might  be  some  advantage  taken  of  these 
islanders;  but  do  not  think  it.  Mr.  William 
Walker's  recent  experience  at  Truxillo  will  prob- 
ably induce  him  to  respect  Ruatan. 


144  SUMMER   ON   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

Nevertheless,  liuatan  is  measurably  affected,  of 
course,  by  the  prosperity  of  the  main  land,  and  if 
the  future  administration  of  the  United  States 
government  is  to  be  as  weak  and  vacillating  as  the 
past  has  been,  it  is  difficult  to  say  what  is  to  be  the 
end  of  these  invasions. 

At  present  there  is  but  little  communication  be- 
tween this  excellent  island  and  the  United  States. 
Thanks  to  your  unjust  policy,  (wide-spread  infamy,) 
the  natives  can  not  be  induced  to  look  towards 
America,  and  so  can  not  see  the  .difference  between 
the  Northern  and  Southern  States.  This  feeling 
has  been  heightened  recently  by  the  fact  that  a 
merchant,  who  dealt  in  fruits  with  certain  parties 
in  New  Orleans,  went  over  there  on  business.  He 
was  also  a  British  magistrate,  and  took  with  him 
the  necessary  papers  to  certify  that  fact.  Hardly 
had  he  reached  the  shore  before  he  was  arrested 
and  taken  to  prison ;  and  when  he  supposed  to  estop 
their  procedure  by  showing  that  he  was  a  British 
magistrate,  the  New  Orleans  constable  replied: 
"  If  Queen  Victoria  were  to  come  over  here,  and 
she  were  black,  I'd  put  her  in  jail !" 

I  am  asked  to  point  out,  as  I  go  along,  what 
could  be  done  whereby  persons  could  gain  a  compe- 
tence ?    Any  thing  in  the  shape  of  w^ork  will  gain 


BRITISH  HONDURAS,  145 

a  competence, — the  trouble  being,  in  all  these  coun- 
tries, that  a  living  is  too  easily  gained.  But  fruits 
are  the  principal  export.  Could  a  vessel  be  run  be- 
tween this  and  Baltimore,  or  any  other  respectable 
port  of  the  United  States,  it  would  pay  beyond  a 
peradventure.  It  would  also  furnish  the  means  of 
getting  here  safe  the  fruits  from  wasting,  for  want  of 
occasional  vessels,  and  also  supply  news ;  which  is 
an  inconceivable  desideratum. 

Land  is  offered  at  a  shilling  an  acre ;  import  duty 
is  but  two  per  cent.,  and  exports  free ;  which,  con- 
sidering the  English  language  prevails,  give  it  a 
decided  advantage  as  a  place  of  settlement. 

Ruatan  is  but  thirty  miles  from  Truxillo,  Hondu- 
ras, and  one  hundred  and  twenty  from  Balize ;  and 
these  are  the  only  ways  of  getting  here  from  New 
York,  at  a  cost  of  sixty  dollars.  For  the  want  of 
such  a  vessel  as  I  have  intimated,  crops  of  oranges 
and  limes  are  frequently  swept  into  the  sea.  The 
Pine-apples  are  large  and  of  a  superior  quality. 
Walk  out  into  the  grounds  early  in  the  morning, 
take  a  Machette  and  strike  one  open,  and  nothing 
can  give  you  an  idea  of  their  flavor  except  to 
imagine  you  are  sipping  the  nectar  of  the  gods. 

In  the  interior  of  the  island  are  cocoa-nut 
groves,  and  other  marks  of  improvement,  such  as 


146  SUMMER   ON   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

an  old  fortress  hid  away  from  the  sea,  which  clearly 
prove  the  island  to  hare  been  anciently  inhabited  ; 
but,  like  many  other  interesting  objects  which  the 
historian  fails  to  comprehend,  by  whom,  or  when, 
is  left  entirely  to  the  conception  of  the  poets. 

"  Gone  are  all  the  barons  bold  ; 
Gone  are  all  the  knights  and  squires ; 
Gone  tlie  abbot,  stern  and  cold, 
And  the  brotherhood  of  friars." 

ENGLISH  VS.   AMERICAN   VIEW   OF   CENTRAL 
AMERICAN   AFFAIRS. 

It  is  but  fair  to  say  the  Hon.  E.  G.  Squier  shows 
very  clearly  the  forced  nature  of  the  English  claims, 
and  that  Euatan  rightly  belongs  to  Honduras.  But 
then  I  should  think  Mr.  Squier,  or  any  other 
American,  would  blush  to  talk  about  British  pro- 
clivities  to  piracy. 

The  following  are  the  views  of  Mr.  Trollope 
(English)  on  the  most  important  of  Central  Ameri- 
can affairs,*  who  probably  also  intends  by  them  to 
give  Mr.  S.  a  rap  on  the  knuckles. 

"As  I  have  before  stated,  there  was,  some  few 
years  since,  a  considerable  passenger  traffic  through 
Central   America    by  the    route   of   the   lake   of 

*  Anthony  Trollope's  West  Indies  and  Spanish  Main.  Harper 
and  Brothers. 


BRITISH   HONDURAS.  147 

Nicaragua.  This  of  course  was  in  the  hands  of 
the  Americans,  and  the  passengers  were  chiefly  those 
going  and  coming  between  the  Eastern  States  and 
California.  They  came  down  to  Greytown  at  the 
mouth  of  the  San  Juan  river,  in  steamers  from 
New  York,  and,  I  believe,  from  various  American 
ports,  went  up  the  San  Juan  river  in  other  steam- 
ers, with  flat  bottoms,  prepared  for  those  waters, 
across  the  lake  in  the  same  way,  and  then  by  a 
good  road  over  the  intervening  neck  of  land  be- 
tween the  lake  and  the  Pacific. 

"Of  course  the  Panama  Kailway  has  done  much 
to  interfere  with  this.  In  the  first  place,  a  rival 
route  has  thus  been  opened ;  though  I  doubt 
whether  it  would  be  a  quicker  route  from  New 
York  to  California  if  the  way  by  the  lake  were 
well  organized.  And  then,  the  company  possess- 
ing the  line  of  steamers  running  to  Aspinwall 
from  New  York  has  been  able  to  buy  off  the  line 
which  would  otherwise  run  to  Greytown. 

"  But  this  rivalship  has  not  been  the  main  cause 
of  the  total  stoppage  of  the  Nicaraguan  route. 
The  filibusters  came  into  that  land  and  destroyed 
every  thing.  Tliey  dropped  down  from  California, 
or  Realcgo,  Leon,  Manaqua,  and  all  the  western 
coast  of  Nicara^m.     Then  others  came  from  tho 


148  SUMMER   OX   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

South-eastern  States,  from  Mobile,  and  New  Or- 
leans, and  swarmed  up  the  river  San  Juan,  devour- 
ing every  thing  before  them. 

*'  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Walker's  idea,  in 
his  attempt  to  possess  himself  of  this  country,  was, 
that  he  should  become  master  of  the  passage  across 
the  Isthmus.  He  saw,  as  so  many  others  have  seen, 
the  importance  of  the  locality  in  this  point  of  view ; 
and  he  probably  felt  that  if  he  could  make  himself 
lord  of  the  soil,  by  his  own  exertions  and  on  his  own 
bottom,  his  mother  country,  the  United  States,  would 
not  be  slow  to  recognize  him.  'I,'  he  would  have 
said,  '  have  procured  for  you  the  ownership  of  the 
road  which  is  so  desirable  for  you.  Pay  me  by  mak- 
ing me  your  lieutenant  here,  and  protecting  me  in 
that  position.' 

"  The  idea  was  not  badly  planned,,  but  it  was  of 
course  radically  unjust.  It  was  a  contemplated 
filching  of  the  road.  And  "Walker  found,  as  all 
men  do  find,  that  he  could  not  get  good  tools  to  do 
bad  work.  He  tried  the  job  with  a  very  rough  lot 
of  tools ;  and  now,  though  he  has  done  much  harm 
to  others,  he  has  done  very  little  good  to  himself, 
I  do  not  think  we  shall  hear  much  more  of  him. 

"  And  among  the  worst  injuries  which  he  has  done 
is  this  disturbance  of  the  lake  traffic.     This  route 


BRITISH  HONDURAS.  149 

has  been  altogether  abandoned.  There,  in  the  San 
Juan  river,  is  to  be  seen  one  old  steamer,  with  its 
bottom  upwards,  a  relic  of  the  filibusters  and  their 
destruction. 

"  All  along  the  banks  tales  are  told  of  their  injus- 
tice and  sufferings.  How  recklessly  they  robbed 
on  their  journey  up  the  country,  and  how  they 
returned  to  Grey  town  —  those  who  did  return, 
whose  bones  are  not  whitening  the  lake  shores — 
wounded,  maimed,  and  miserable. 

"  Along  the  route  traders  were  beginning  to  es- 
tablish themselves ;  men  prepared  to  provide  the 
travellers  with  food  and  drink,  and  the  boats  with 
fuel  for  their  steam.  An  end  for  the  present  has 
been  put  to  all  this.  The  weak  governments  of  the 
country  have  been  able  to  afford  no  protection  to 
these  men,  and,  placed  as  they  were  beyond  the 
protection  of  England  or  the  United  States,  they 
have  been  completely  open  to  attack.  The  filibus- 
ters for  a  while  have  destroyed  the  transit  through 
Nicaragua;  and  it  is  hardl}^  matter  of  surprise 
that  the  president  of  that  land,  the  neighboring 
republic,  should  catch  at  any  scheme  which  pro- 
poses to  give  them  back  this  advantage,  especially 
when  promise  is  made  of  the  additional  advantage 
of  effectual  protection. 


150  SUMMKK   ON   THK   CARIBBEAN. 

"  To  US  Englishmen  it  is  a  matter  of  indiflference 
in  whose  hands  the  transit  may  be,  so  long  as 
it  is  free  and  open  to  the  world ;  so  long  as  a 
difference  of  nationality  creates  no  difference  in  the 
fares  charged,  or  in  the  facilities  afforded.  For  our 
own  purposes  I  have  no  doubt  the  Panama  line  is 
the  best,  and  will  be  the  route  we  shall  use.  But 
we  should  be  delighted  to  see  a  second  line  opened. 
If  Mr.  Squier  can  accomplish  his  line  through  Hon- 
duras we  shall  give  him  great  honor,  and  acknowl- 
edge that  he  has  done  the  world  a  service.  Mean- 
time we  shall  be  very  happy  to  see  the  lake  transit 
reestablished." 

There  is  no  hope  for  the  Central  American  States 
except  by  intervention  on  the  part  of  some  govern- 
ment capable  of  protecting  them. 


LETTER  XVI. 

^C  o  11  c  1  II  s  i  -V  e    Summary. 

CONCISE  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  SPANISH  MAIN DOMINICANA  RE- 
VIEWED—THE MAGNIFICENT  BAY  OF  SAMANA  —  CONCLUSIVE 
SUMMARY. 

fHUS  have  I  endeavored  to  seize  on  whatever 
might  seem  to  be  of  importance,  and  at  the 
same  time  interesting  to  such  of  your  readers  as 
desired  to  have  some  more  general  information  re- 
specting tropical  America. 

I  am  aware  that  I  have  not  analyzed  the  soil,  nor 
(so  long  as  it  produced  well)  have  I  cared  whether 
it  was  "  composed  of  the  debris  of  these  limestones 
and  lava  mountains,"  or  "  temiDered  by  the  decay- 
ing vegetation  of  the  centuries  past."  Nor  have  I 
entered  into  any  essay  to  show  how  the  lofty  sierras 
of  Honduras  differed  from  those  of  Nicaragua,  or 
those  of  the  islands  from  the  Spanish  Main.  It 
would  be  eas}'-  to  give  j^ou  a  chapter  stating  that "  the 
summits  of  some  of  them  are  of  hard  sandstone  or 
granite ;  some  are  covered  with  layers  of  mould  of 
different  colors  and  densitv,  sometimes  mixed  with 


152  SUMMER   ON  THE   CARIBBEAN. 

stones  of  different  degrees  of  hardness,  and  more 
or  less  calcinable ;  and  some  of  them  of  various 
vitrifiable  substances."  But  I  take  it  that  the  way 
to  make  a  tiling  useful  is  also  to  have  it  agreeable. 
Who  reads,  fur  example,  Mr.  Wells'  -well-written 
but  ponderous  "  Travels  and  Explorations  in  Hon- 
duras "  ? 

Central  America,  by  common  assent,  not  only 
realizes  in  its  geographical  position  the  ancient  idea 
of  the  centre  of  the  world,  but  is  in  its  physical 
aspect  and  configuration  of  surface  an  epitome  of 
all  the  countries  and  of  all  climes.  "'High  moun- 
tain ranges,  isolated  peaks,  elevated  table  lands, 
and  broad  and  fertile  plains,  are  here  grouped  to- 
gether, relieved  by  beautiful  lakes  and  majestic  riv- 
ers ;  the  whole  teeming'  with  animal  and  vegetable 
life,  and  possessing  every  variety  of  climate  from 
torrid  heat  to  the  cool  and  bracing  temperature  of 
eternal  spring." 

On  the  Atlantic  slope  rain  falls  in  greater  or  less 
abundance  for  the  entire  year ;  vegetation  is  rank, 
and  the  climate  damp  and  proportionately  insalubri- 
ous, while  the  Pacific  slope  and  the  elevated  regions 
of  the  interior  are  comparatively  dry  and  healthy. 

With  this  variety  of  "  physical  circumstances," 
also,  the  people  differ,  and  have  alwa3's  differed,  in 


CONCLUSIVE   SUMMARY.  153 

a  direct  and  coiTespouding  ratio ;  the  inhabitants  of 
the  cool  and  healthy  regions  having  at  the  time  of 
the  discovery  systematized  forms  of  government 
and  worship,  while  the  hotter  and  less  salubrious 
coasts  were  occupied  by  a  distinct  family  of  men 
unfixed  in  their  abodes,  having  no  social  enjoy- 
ments, and  living  on  the  natural  fruits  of  the  earth. 
In  Central  America,  therefore,  Dr.  Smith's  cele- 
brated essay  on  "  Civilization — its  Independence  of 
Physical  Circumstance,"  receives  a  striking  illustra- 
tion, the  damp  Musquito  coasts  having  propagated 
only  a  rude  tribe  of  men  ;  while  San  Salvador,  for 
example,  sustains  a  population  highly  civilized,  and 
equal  in  number  to  New  England, 

But  I  have  dwelt  at  most  length  on  the  island  of 
Hayti,  because  it  is  a  source  of  greatest  interest  to 
us,  and  because  there  is  perhaps  no  country  the  in- 
trinsic value  of  which  is  so  little  known  ;  and  while 
I  can  see  no  objection  but  every  thing  to  encourage 
by  governmental  influence  the  establishment  of  a 
colony  in  some  parts  of  the  Central  American 
States,  neither  do  I  know  why  it  might  not  be  cs- 
tabhshed  in  the  Spanish  territory  of  Ilayti.  I  have 
given  another  gentleman's  views,  which  are  worth 
more  than  my  own,  as  to  the  vast  population  the 
country  is  capable  of  sustaining,  and  have  shown 


154  SUMMER  ON   THE   CAUIBBEAN, 

that  especially  from  Porto  Cabello  west,  to  the  Cay 
of  Samana  east,  no  finer  province  could  certainly 
be  desired.  Tliat  noble  bay,  as  I  am  informed,  has 
been  surveyed  heretofore  by  a  corps  of  American 
engineers,  who  pronounced  it  the  choicest  point 
for  a  naval  station  on  the  Caribbean  coasts.  It 
is  also  assumed,  from  the  rapid  increase  of  the 
coral  reefs  in  the  Bahama  channels,  that  this  in 
time  will  furnish  the  only  safe  channel  for  Califor- 
nia steamers,  and  even  for  larger  vessels  bound 
from  the  Northern  States  to  New  Orleans.  I  have 
nothing  to  do  with  that,  further  than  to  state  it  as 
I  have  it.  The  insurance  companies  will  however 
appreciate  this  assumption,  if  we  are  to  judge  from 
the  number  of  wrecks  which  have  recently  occurred 
between  the  Caicos  and  Florida  reefs. 

Surrounding  the  bay  of  Samana  are  beds  of 
coal  as  if  on  purpose  to  supply  such  steamers ;  but 
they  now  lie  unworked,  useless,  and  almost  un- 
known. Into  this  bay  empties  the  Yuna  river, 
which  takes  its  rise  far  back  in  the  northern  and 
middle  range  of  mountains,  and,  fed  by  innumer- 
able tributaries,  winds  its  course  towards  this  mag- 
nificent harbor  through  the  widest  portion  of  the 
Royal  plains. 

"  In   briefly    describing   the   principal    bays   of 


CONCLUSIVE   SUMMARY.  155 

Dominicana,"  says  Mr.  Courtney,  "  the  first  of  im- 
portance is  the  far-famed  and  magnificent   bay  of 
Saniana,  at  the  north-eastern  end  of  the  island,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Yuna  river.     It  is  about  fifty 
miles  from  east  to  west,  and  varying  in  width  from 
fifteen  to  twenty  miles,  and  of  a  great  depth.     The 
entrance  to  it  is  at  the  east  end,  and  is  about  a 
mile  wide,  as  beyond  that  is  shoal  water,  to  the 
south  side  some  little  islands  and  bars  appearing 
above  the  surface.     An  old  fort,  erected  long  since 
on  the  high  bluff  on  the  north  side,  a  few  miles 
above  the  mouth  and  before  it  widens  out,  com- 
mands its  entrance.     The  hills  and  mountains  on 
either  side  of  the  bay  rise  back  from  it  to  a  great 
height,   their   sides   being  covered  with   beautiful 
slopes,  plateaus,  and  benches.     The  coasts  are  here 
and  there  indented  with  minor  bays  and  inlets,  the 
most  important  of  which  is  at  the  town  of  Samana, 
about  twenty -five  miles  up  the  bay  on  the  north 
side.     It  is  a  land-locked  harbor  and  very  deep,  as 
are  all  the  inlets.     The  view  of  the  bay  from  either 
side  across  to  the  opposite  shores,  covered  as  it  is 
with  swarms  of  ducks  and  swans  and  other  water 
fowl ;  and  the  coasts  and  hills  and  mountains  cov- 
ered with  flowers  and  verdure  and  fruit,  is  truly 
beautiful  and  sublime,  equalling,  if  not  surpassing, 


156  SUMMER  ON   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

in  beauty  and  magniiiccncc,  the  Bay  of  Naples, 
and  is  obviously  the  key  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

"  Here  all  the  navies  of  the  world  could  lie  at 
anchor  in  safety." 

It  would  be  useless  for  me  to  give  a  minute  de- 
scription of  each  particular  bay  in  each  particular 
State,  thus  swelling  these  pages  into  the  usual  pon- 
derous three-dollar  volumes  which  nobody  buys, 
and  so  none  read.  I  am  aware  that  the  Bay  of 
Fonseca,  and  others  on  the  Spanish  Main,  are 
equally  deserving,  if  necessary,  to  be  described. 
Mr.  Wells  has  shown  this,  and  also  that  the  inte- 
rior districts  of  Honduras  are  as  rich  in  silver  and 
gold  as  any  region  of  which  California  can  boast. 
I  understand,  however,  that  parties  have  since  been 
formed  on  the  strength  of  Mr.  Wells'  report,  and 
thoroughly  equipped  for  mining  operations.  But 
as  I  am  informed,  they  were  not  allowed  to  enter 
the  interior  in  consequence  of  those  filibustering 
propensities  which  all  white  Americans  are  sup- 
posed to  possess. 

A  party  organized  to  work  the  mines  on  a  small 
scale  in  Dominicana  has  lately  sailed  for  the  island. 
They  will  not  be  interrupted  by  the  present  govern- 
ment, but  the  durabilitv  of  that  government  is,  I 


CONCLUSIVE  SUMMARY.  157 

am  sorry  to  say,  a  question  which  may  be  agi- 
tated, and  even  settled,  hefore  I  finish  luriting  this 
booJc. 

And  now  I  have  struck  the  key  note  of  all  I 
have  to  say.  The  most  beautiful  countries  in  the 
world  are  the  most  lamentably  ill-governed.  It 
makes  no  difference  to  any  one  having  foreign  pro- 
tection, as  to  their  personal  safety,  whether  there  be 
revolution  or  not.  This  white  Americans  and  all 
Englishmen  or  anybody  else  have,  but  the  free 
colored,  people  of  America.  They  have  no  protec- 
tion anywhere. 

Now  this  is  a  shame  and  a  disgrace  to  the  civil- 
ized world.  But  so  it  is,  and,  as  Mr.  Douglas  would 
ask,  "  What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?" 

I  have  no  reason  to  doubt  the  sincerity  of  such 
eminent  persons  as  have  proposed  to  acknowl- 
edge the  independence  of  these  governments,  form 
treaties  therewith,  and  even  to  purchase  territory 
and  provide  the  means  whereby  a  settlement  could 
be  established.  I  have  rather  much  cause  to  believe 
the  new  government  (that  is  to  be)  will  give  the  sub- 
ject earnest  consideration.  Nothing  could  be  more 
just,  and,  as  I  believe,  wise  or  popular.  I  know  that 
such  a  measure  would  not  be  opposed  by  the  peo- 
ple of  the  tropics,  for  there  are  many  who  enter- 


158  SUMMER   ON   THE  CAKIBBKAN. 

tain  progressive  ideas,  and  who  have  sympathies 
in  conimou  witli  Americans,  who,  the  moment  a 
protected  settlement  were  established,  would  flock 
tliither  from  tlic  neighboring  States  and  islands, 
and  immediately  swell  the  number  of  the  original 
emigrants.  I  say  I  know  this,  because  so  many  have 
said  so,  among  whom  could  be  mentioned  English 
and  American  families,  white  and  colored.  But  it 
pains  me  to  say,  the  truth  is,  unless  this  protection 
could  be  given,  or  unless  a  sufficient  number  could 
emigrate  (which  they  are  not  able  to  do)  to  protect 
themselves,  none  of  these  States  seem  to  be  in  a 
sufficiently  reliable  condition  to  prevent  such  a 
movement  from  being  a  matter  of  great  risk. 

I  have  shown,  I  think,  which  was  the  object  of 
this  visit,  what  might  be  accomplished  provided 
the  government  should  provide  means,  never  so 
small,  towards  the  furtherance  of  such  a  move- 
ment. 

It  is  the  only  way  by  which  a  colony  to  any 
extent  could  be  permanently  established,  which 
would  give  tone  and  stability  to  the  government 
there,  and  turn  the  important  commerce  of  the 
tropics  in  this  direction.  There  arc  now  probably 
ten  European  vessels  in  the  harbor  of  Spanish 
America,  but  especially  of  Domiuicana,  where  there 


CONCLUSIVE   SUMMARY.  159 

is  one  belonging  to  tlic  United  States,  although 
the  latter  is  the  natural  market,  from  which  they 
receive  entirely  their  flour  and  salted  pork.  (Mer- 
chants of  Cincinnati  will  appreciate  this.) 

I  presume  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  an  Ameri- 
can merchant  in  any  of  the  Spanish  States,  who 
had  not  succeeded  in  making  a  fortune  by  the  great 
advantages  of  trade  in  mahogany,  dye-woods,  hides, 
and  tobacco,  almost  immediately  after  commencing 
business,  but  who  has  not  as  invariably  lost  it,  in 
whole  or  in  part,  by  the  depression  of  currency  in 
consequence  of  the  momentary  revolutions. 

How  grandly  would  both  these  and  those  States 
"  loom  up  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,"  if,  abandoning 
that  policy  which  makes  them  the  indiscriminate 
oppressors  of  the  weak,  the  American  people  should 
set  themselves  at  work  through  their  new  adminis- 
tration, to  secure  by  this  means  the  commerce  of 
those  countries ;  give  them  peace,  and  forever  wipe 
out  the  stain  which  Walker  lias  cast  upon  the  very 
name  of  all  who  boast  themselves  citizens  of  this 
republic.  Such  a  measure  would  in  some  degree 
recompense  the  colored  race  for  the  services  they 
have  rendered  to  tlie  government,  the  fruits  of 
which  they  have  not  been  permitted  to  enjoy  ;  would 
make  this  great  nation  less  obnoxious  to  the  weak  ; 


160  SUMMER  OX   THE   CARIBBEAN. 

lay  the  foundation  of  a  future  empire ;  and  cause 
those  lovely  regions  to  bloom  with  industry  and 
skill  as  they  now  bloom  with  eternal  verdure. 


END. 


APPENDIX. 


(FEOM  the  ANGLO-AFRtCAN  UAGAZINB.) 

Tlie     A.n.g'lo-A.  fv  lean     £1  in.  p  i  i*  c  . 


"Do  these  things  moan  nothing?  AVhat  the  tender  and  poetic  youth  dreams 
to-day  and  conjures  up  with  inarticulate  epcech,  is  to-morrow  the  vociferated 
result  of  public  opinion,  and  the  day  aftoris  the  charter  of  nations.'' — Phillips. 

^t'IIE  stars  of  the  tropics  are  the  guiding  stars  of 
^^  the  age.  The  sympathy  of  the  world  is  with 
the  South,  and  the  tendencies  of  things  are  south- 
ward. The  controlHug  influence  of  the  great 
commercial  staple  of  our  Southern  States,  the  grow- 
ing demand  for  the  productions  of  the  tropics,  the 
discovery  of  gold  toward  the  torrid  zone,  and  a 
consequent  want  of  labor  in  that  direction,  indicate 
firmly  the  force  of  these  assertions.  Other  causes, 
apparently  indirect  or  yet  apparently  opposed,  such 
as  the  disappearance  of  slavery  from  Maine  to 
Maryland,  and  the  rapidity  with  which  the  slaves 
8* 


162  APPENDIX- 

• 

arc  hurried  further  south,  might  be  cited  on  the 
one  hand ;  and  on  the  other  the  fiUbustering  pro- 
pensities of  Southern  fire-eaters  as  the  unerring  and 
immutable  laws  of  destiny,  guided  by  an  all-wise 
and  overruling  Providence.  "  The  coral  zoophite 
does  not  know  that  while  it  builds  itself  a  house  it 
also  creates  an  island  for  the  world ;"  and  the  master, 
as  he  pays  the  passage  of  his  slave  from  the  more 
Northern  slave  States  to  New  Mexico,  is  but  the 
rude  agent  of  a  superior  power,  urging  him  to  more 
inviting  fields  for  enterprise,  and  for  his  higher  and 
more  responsible  duties  as  a  freeman. 

Reforms  do  not  go  backwards,  nor  filibustering 
northwards,  and  "  nothing  is  more  certain  than  that 
the  slaves  are  to  be  free ;"  but  the  problem  as  to 
what  position  they  are  to  sustain  as  freemen  is  but 
little  thought  of,  and,  of  course,  less  understood.  It 
is  true  some  suggestions  have  been  offered  on  this 
subject,  foremost  among  which  stands  that  of  Mr. 
Helper,  as  the  most  absurd  and  ridiculous.  It 
did  not  occur  to  Mr,  Helper,  when  he  suggested 
the  broad  idea  of  chartering  all  the  vessels  Jying 
around  loose  for  the  huddling  together  of  the  blacks 
after  emancipation  and  shipping  them  off  to  Africa, 
— it  did  not  occur  to  him  that  they  were  men,  and 
might  not  Avish  to  go  ;  at  least  it  did  not  occur  to 


APPENDIX.  168 

him  that  they  were  men.  So  I  make  the  sugges- 
tion for  his  benefit,  and  for  the  benefit  of  those  who 
may  come  after  him,  this  being  a  question  not  to  be 
settled  by  arbitrary  means,  but  by  means  which 
shall  meet  the  apj^robation  of  all  parties  concerned, 
nor  yet  forgetting  that  at  the  head  of  these  parties 
stands  Him  whose  name  is  not  to  be  mentioned 
without  reverence. 

Whence  comes  the  colored  people's  instinctive 
horror  of  colonisation  in  Africa?  Colonizationists 
say  they  can  not  account  for  it,  since  Africa  is  their 
fatherland.  But  if  this  were  any  argument,  I  could 
account  for  it  by  the  simple  afl&rmation  that  it  is  not 
their  fatherland.  The  truth  is,  "  Time  has  shown 
that  the  causes  which  have  produced  races  nevei* 
to  improve  Africa,  but  to  abandon  it,  and  give  their 
vigor  and  derive  their  strength  from  other  climes, 
is  not  to  be  reversed  by  the  best  efforts  of  the  best 
men."  Besides  this,  charity  begins  at  home.  Allow- 
ing that  the  colonizationists.  by  sending  a  few  hand- 
fuls  of  colored  men  to  Africa,  may  plant  the  germ 
of  civilization  there,  that  the  seed  may  spread  or  the 
fire  may  flame  until  the  whole  continent  becomes 
illuminated  with  Christian  love,  and  her  sons  stand 
forth  regenerated  and  redeemed  from  the  dark 
superstition   that   enthralled    them.     Then  what? 


164  APPENDIX. 

It  is  a  great  deal,  and  a  great  deal  more  than  we 
can  hope  for,  and  a  hero  is  he  who  will  sacrifice  his 
life  in  making  the  attempt  to  bring  about  such  a 
magnificent  result ;  but  in  doing  this  very  little 
will  be  accomplished  for  the  millions  who  remain, 
increasing,  on  this  continent. 

Nevertheless,  there  is  a  growing  disposition 
among  colored  men  of  thought  to  abandon  that 
policy  which  teaches  them  to  cling  to  the  skirts  of 
the  white  people  for  support,  and  to  emigrate  to 
Africa,  Hayti,  or  wherever  else  they  may  expect  to 
better  their  condition ;  and  it  is  encouraging  to  know 
that  the  time  is  at  hand  when  men  can  speak  their 
convictions  on  this  subject  without  being  made  the 
victims  of  iliterate  abuse  and  indiscriminate  denun- 
ciation, all  of  which  is  the  natural  result  of  more 
general  information,  and  which  will  lead  to  the 
discovery  at  last  of  what  is  to  be  the  final  purpose 
of  American  slavery — the  destiny  of  the  colored 
race  after  slavery  shall  be  abolished. 

The  history  of  Hayti  and  Jamaica,  and  of  the 
American  tropics  generally,  indicates  the  propaga- 
tion of  the  colored  race,  exclusive  of  whites  or 
blacks.  (This  is  simply  calling  things  by  their 
right  names,  for  which  the  compiler  of  these  facts 
expects  to  be  made  the  most  popular  writer  of  the 


APPENDIX.  165 

age,  of  being  highly  flattered,  iufinitely  abused, 
feared,  hated,  and  all  that  attends  the  discovery  of 
truth  generally.)  Throughout  the  "West  Indies, 
with  the  single  exception  of  Cuba,  the  whites  have 
been  unable  to  keep  up  their  numbers,  and  in  that 
instance  only  by  a  recent  flood  of  immigration  on  a 
large  scale  from  Europe.  The  colored  race,  on  the 
contrary,  is  perfectly  well  adapted  to  this  region,  and 
luxuriates  in  it ;  and  it  is  only  through  their  agency 
that  some  small  portion  of  the  torrid  zone  has  been 
brought  within  the  circle  of  civilized  industry.  I 
have  said  their  history  would  prove  this. 

When  discovered  by  the  Spaniards  these  islands 
were  inhabited  by  a  colored  people  not  unlike  our 
Indians.  Their  homes  were  invaded ;  they  were 
reduced  to  a  state  of  miserable  vassalage,  and  the 
proud  Caucasian  stalked  about,  the  conquerer  of 
every  spot  of  earth  his  avarice  or  cupidity  desired. 
The  natives,  unable  to  endure  the  persecutions  to 
which  they  were  subjected,  withered  and  feU  like 
the  autumn  leaves,  and  Africa  became  the  hunting- 
ground  of  the  slave  pirate  for  hardier  and  more 
enduring  slaves. 

Africa  became  their  hunting-ground,  and  quiet 
villagers  were  startled  in  the  dead  of  night  to  be- 
hold their  huts  in  flames,  and  to  hear  the  shrieks  of 


166  APPENDIX. 

their  fellow-men  and  fellow-women,  who  were  being 
torn  away  from  their  native  homes  as  victims  for 
the  slave-ship,  there  to  suffer  all  the  tortures  of  the 
yoke  and  the  branding-iron,  and  finally  to  be  land- 
ed, if  at  all.  on  the  American  coast,  with  no  other 
prospect  tlian  that  of  a  life-bondage  spread  out  be- 
fore them.  This  state  of  wickedness  continued,  so 
far  as  England  was  concerned,  until  its  glaring  out- 
rages challenged  the  attention  of  the  British  realm, 
and  until  the  Parliament  of  England  passed  an  act 
declaring  all  British  subjects  should  be  free ; — "An 
act  of  legislation  which,  for  justice  and  magnanimity, 
stands  unrivalled  in  the  annals  of  the  world,  and 
which  will  be  the  glory  of  England  and  the  admi- 
ration of  posterity  when  her  proudest  military  and 
naval  achievements  shall  have  faded  from  the 
recollection  of  mankind ;"  an  act  of  legislation 
which  restored  the  liberties  of  eight  hundred  thou- 
sand of  our  fellow-men,  and  left  them  in  possession 
of  superior  claims  and  circumstances  to  those  from 
which  tJiey  had  been  originally  removed,  (because,  un- 
doubtedly, the  chances  of  any  free  man  are  better 
upon  this  continent  than  in  Africa.) 

Then  came  a  series  of  American  slanders:  "Ja- 
maica was  ruined  ;"  "  the  negro  unfit  for  freedom  ;" 
and  the  downfall  of  prosperity  and  the  loss  of  trade 
were  everywhere  said  to  be  inevitable. 


APPENDIX.  167 

But  the  negro  and  his  descendants  are  proof 
against  slander  and  against  the  New  York  Herald, 
which  terms  arc  soon  to  be  synonymous.  Jamaica 
was  not  ruined :  but,  while  these  complaints  were 
raised  against  her  population,  40,000  land  patents, 
varying  from  ten  to  one  hundred  acres  each,  were 
being  taken  up  in  a  single  year!  Lands  having 
been  provided  and  schools  introduced,  happiness 
began  to  smile,  prosperity  reappeared,  and  the 
whole  country  was  redeemed  from  what  had  been 
a  field  of  terror  to  what  promises  to  become  the 
very  garden  of  the  Western  world. 

This  is  said  to  be  an  axiom  of  political  philosophy 
upon  which  it  is  safe  to  rely :  For  any  people  to 
maintain  their  rights,  they  must  constitute  an  essential 
part  of  the  ruling  element  of  the  country  in  which  they 
live.  The  whites  of  the  tropics  are  but  few  in 
number.  They  have  heretofore  sustained  them- 
selves by  tlieir  superior  wealth  and  intelligence. 
But,  as  fast  as  the  colored  people  rise  in  this  rcsjiect, 
their  white  rulers  are  pushed  aside  to  make  way 
for  officers  of  their  own  race.  This  is  perfectly 
natural.  When  a  colony  of  Norwegians  come  over 
from  Norway  and  settle  a  county  in  Wisconsin,  do 
they  elect  a  yankee  to  re[)reseut  them  ?  Norwe- 
gians  elect   Norwegians,  Germans  elect  Germans, 


168  APPENDIX. 

and  colored  men  elect  colored  men,  whenever  they 
luive  the  opportunity. 

Even  now  a  large  majority  of  the  subordinate 
officers  of  Jamaica,  I  understand,  are  colored  men. 
The  Parliament  is  about  equally  divided,  and  the 
Attorney-General  and  Emigration  Agent-General 
are  colored  men ;  and  it  is  fair  to  assume,  within  a 
few  years  of  the  date  of  this  paper,  there  will  not 
be  a  single  white  man  throughout  the  West  Indies 
occupying  a  position  within  the  gift  of  the  people. 

A  retired  merchant  of  Philadelphia,  a  man  of 
large  thought  and  liberal  views,  having  an  experi- 
ence of  fifteen  or  twenty  years'  residence  in  Hayti, 
in  reply  to  certain  letters  asking  for  information 
and  advice  respecting  the  subject  now  under  con- 
sideration, published  a  pamphlet  in  which  he  says : 
"  There  is  a  long  view  as  well  as  a  short  view  to 
be  taken  of  every  great  question  which  bears  upon 
human  progress ;  but  we  are  often  unable  or  un- 
willing to  take  the  former,  until  some  time  after  a 
question  is  settled. 

"  'Manifest  destiny'  has  been,  for  some  years,  a 
familiar  and  accepted  phrase  in  the  mouths  of  our 
politicians,  and  each  class  suggests  a  plan  for  carry- 
ing it  out  in  accordance  with  its  own  specific  inter- 
ests, or  some  preconceived  theory.  The  pro-slavery 


APPENDIX.  180 

adventurer  may  yet  gain  a  footing  in  Central 
America,  but  it  will  not  be  to  establish  slaver3^ 
Slavery  once  abolished,  has  never  been  reestablish- 
ed in  the  same  place,  in  America,  except  in  one 
instance — that  of  the  smaller  Frencli  colonies,  now 
again  free.  The  vain  effort  to  rcenslave  St.  Do- 
mingo cost  the  French  forty  thousand  men.  The 
free  negro,  that  nothing  else  can  arouse,  will  fight 
against  the  replacement  of  the  yoke  which  he  has 
once  thrown  off;  and  the  number  of  these  in 
Central  America  is  sufficient  to  prove  a  stumbling- 
block  if  not  a  barrier  to  its  return.  To  reestablish 
slavery  permanently,  where  it  is  has  once  been 
abolished,  is  to  swim  against  the  great  moral  cur- 
rent of  the  age. 

"  We  can  acknowledge  to-day  that  the  persecu- 
tion of  the  Puritans  by  Laud  and  his  predecessors, 
only  intended,  as  it  was,  to  produce  conformity  to 
the  Church,  really  produced  New  England.  And 
we  can  now  see  that  the  obstinacy  of  George  the 
Third  was  as  much  a  cause  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  at  the  time  it  was  made,  as  the  per- 
severance of  John  Adams, — the  one  being  the 
necessary  counterpart  of  the  other,  the  two  together 
forming  the  entire  implement  which  clipped  the  tie. 
Now  if  we  can  make  the  above  admissions  in  re. 
9 


170  APFKNDFX. 

spect  to  these,  the  two  greatest  settled  questions  of 
modern  times,  without  excusing  either  persecution 
or  obstinacy  in  wrong,  but  keeping  steadily  in  view 
that  every  man  is  responsible  for  the  motives  which 
govern  bis  conduct,  be  the  result  of  that  conduct 
what  it  may,  why  should  we  not  begin  to  look  at 
this,  the  third  great  question  of  the  same  class, 
still  wwsettled,  from  the  same  point  of  view  ? 

"ij^  then,  I  were  asked  what  was  probably  the  final 
purpose  of  negro  slavery,  I  should  answer — To  furnish 
the  basis  of  a  free  popidation  for  the  tropics  of  Ameri- 
ca. 

"  I  believe  that  the  Anglo-Americans,  with  the 
Africans,  whom  a  part  of  the  former  now  liold  in 
bondage,  will  one  day  unite  to  form  this  race  for  the 
tropics,  with  or  without  combination  with  the  races 
already  there.  But  whether  the  African  quota  of 
it  shall  be  transferred  thither  by  convulsive  or 
organized  movements — or  be  gradually  thinned  out 
from  their  present  abode,  as  from  a  great  nursery, 
by  directed  but  spontaneous  transition — or  retire, 
by  degrees,  with  the  *  poor  whites,'  before  the 
peaceful  encroachments  of  robust  Northern  labor,  it 
would  be  useless  now  to  conjecture.  It  is  enough 
now  to  know  that  labor,  like  capital,  goes  in  the 
end  to  tlie  place  where  it  is  most  wanted :   and  that 


APPENDIX.  171 

labor,  free  from  the  destructive  element  of  caste,  has 
been,  and  still  is,  the  great  desideratum  of  the 
tropics,  as  it  is  of  all  other  places  which  do  not  al- 
ready possess  it.  I  have  already  spoken  of  the 
presumed  ability  of  the  Southern  States  to  spare 
this  kind  of  labor.  Should  there,  however,  prove 
to  be  any  part  of  the  Union  where  the  climate  or 
the  culture  really  requires  the  labor  of  the  black 
man,  then  there  he  will  remain,  and  eventually  be 
absorbed  by  the  dominant  race;  and  from  that 
point  the  complexion  of  our  population  will  begin 
to  shade  off  into  that  of  the  dark  belt  of  Anglo- 
Africans,  wliich  will  then  extend  across  the  northern 
tropics. 

"  I  know  that  most  of  our  Northern  people,  while 
they  demand,  in  the  strongest  terras,  all  the  rights 
of  man  for  the  negro  or  mulatto,  are  unable  to 
eradicate  from  their  minds  a  deeply -grounded  prej- 
udice against  his  person.  In  spite  of  themselves, 
they  shrink  from  the  thought  of  an  amalgamation 
such  as  the  foregoing  observations  imply.  But 
these  friends  are  not  aware  how  quickly  this  preju- 
dice begins  to  melt  away  as  soon  as  one  has  enter- 
ed any  part  of  the  tropics  where  the  African  race 
is  in  the  ascendant,  or  where  pco[>le  of  colored 
blood  have  attained  to  such  social  consideration  as 


172  APPENDIX. 

to  make  themselves  respected.  I  suppose  no  North- 
ern man  ever  forgets  the  occasion  when,  for  the 
first  time,  he  arrives  at  such  a  place,  and  the  col- 
ored merchant  to  whom  he  is  addressed  comes  for- 
ward, with  the  self-possession  which  attends  self-re- 
spect, and  offcra  him  his  hand.  He  begins  to  be 
healed  of  his  prejudice  from  that  hour." 

I  am  also  aware  that  the  notion  prevails  gener- 
ally in  the  United  States  that  the  mulatto  has  no 
vitality  of  race ;  that  after  three  or  four  generations 
he  dies  out.  This  idea,  I  believe,  finds  its  strongest 
advocates  among  the  slaveholders  and  the  readers 
of  De  Bow's  "  Keview,"  and  possibly  it  may  be  cor- 
rect when  applied  to  the  colder  latitudes ;  but  I 
have  no  reason  to  think  it  is  so  in  or  near  the  tropics. 
Moreau  de  St.  Mery,  in  his  minute  "  Description 
of  the  French  part  of  St.  Domingo^"  says,  with  re- 
spect to  the  vitality  of  the  mulatto,  which  term 
includes  all  persons  of  color,  however  slight,  of 
mixed  European  and  African  descent :  "  Of  all 
the  combinations  of  whit(3  and  black,  the  mulatto 
unites  the  most  physical  advantages.  It  is  he  who 
derives  the  stronsrest  constitution  from  these  crossinsrs 
of  race,  and  who  is  the  best  suited  to  the  climate 
of  St.  DomiuTO.  To  the  strength  and  soberness  of 
the  negro  he  adds  the  grace  of  form  and  intelli- 


APPENDIX.  173 

gence  of  the  whites,  and  of  all  the  human  beings  of 
St.  Domingo  he  is  the  longest  lived.  .  .  I  have 
already  said  they  are  well  made  and  very  intelli- 
gent ;  but  they  are  as  much  given  to  idleness  and 
love  of  repose  as  the  negro. 

Hermann  Burmeister,  Professor  of  Zoology  in  the 
University  of  Halle,  who  spent  fourteen  months,  in 
1850-51,  in  studying  at  Brazil  the  "Comparative 
Anatomy  and  Physiology  of  the  American  Negro," 
speaks  thus  of  the  Brazilian  mulatto :  "  The  great- 
est number  of  the  colored  inhabitants  of  Brazil  are  of 
the  negro  and  European  races,  called  mulattoes.  It 
may  be  asserted  that  the  inferior  classes  of  the  free 
population  are  composed  of  such.  K  ever  there 
should  be  a  republic,  such  as  exists  in  the  United 
States  of  America,  as  it  is  the  aim  of  a  numerous 
party  in  Brazil  to  establish,  the  whole  class  of 
artisans  would  doubtless  consist  of  a  colored  popula- 
tion. *  *  *  Already  in  every  village  and  town 
the  mulattoes  are  in  the  ascendant,  and  the  traveller 
comes  in  contact  with  more  of  tliem  than  of  whites." 
There  is  nothing  in  these  extracts,  or  in  the  essay 
from  which  tliey  are  taken,  to  indicate  that  the 
Brazilian  mulatto  is  dying  out.  These  are  the  ob- 
servations of  a  patient  investigator  and  man  of 
science,  and  they  liave  the  more  value,  inasmuch 
9* 


174  APPENDIX. 

as  they  were  not  set  down  to  support  any  particular 
theory.  The  Professor  speaks  elsewhere  in  high 
but  qualified  terms  of  the  moral  and  intellectual 
qualities  of  the  mulatto,  coming  to  conclusions 
similar  to  those  of  Moreau  de  St.  Mery,  except 
that  he  does  not  accuse  them  of  indolence. 

The  author  of  "  Remarks  on  Hayti  and  the 
Mulatto,"  wliose  experiuucc  as  a  merchant  I  have 
mentioned,  further  says: 

"  This  race,  if  on  the  white  side  it  derives  its 
blood  from  either  the  English  or  French  stock,  pos- 
sesses within  itself  a  combination  of  all  the  mental 
and  physical  qualities  necessary  to  form  a  civilized 
and  progressive  population  for  the  tropics,  and  it  is 
the  only  race  yet  found  of  which  this  can  he  said^ 

"  I  have  no  desire  to  undervalue  the  blacks  of 
Hayti.  I  have  found  many  shrewd,  worthy,  and 
intelligent  men  among  them ;  and  the  country,  it 
is  well  known,  has  produced  several  black  men  of 
a  high  order  of  talent ;  but  these  have  been  excep- 
tional cases,  like  the  King  Philips,  Hendricks,  Te- 
cumsehs,  and  Red  Jackets,  of  our  North  American 
Indians.  As  a  race,  they  do  not  get  on.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  every  other  original  race.  The  blacks 
form  no  exception  to  the  well-known  law,  that  cul- 
ture and  advancement  in  man  are  the  result  of  a 
combination  of  races." 


APPENDIX.  175 

REMARKS. 

I  have  no  desire  to  retain,  by  the  republishing  of 
the  above  extracts,  the  appellation  of  "  Defender 
of  the  Mulattoes ;"  but  have  inserted  them  here, 
that  they  may  not  be  misunderstood.  All  I 
have  to  say  is,  that  I  believe  it  would  bo  actually 
more  proper,  numerically  speaking,  to  call  at  least 
the  free  persons  of  African  descent  in  America, 
colored  or  mulattoes,  rather  than  negroes.  Yet,  how 
often  do  we  hear  respectable  men  of  all  parties, 
talk  of  "  Negro  nationalities,"  and  regarding  the 
two  races  as  "two  negative  poles  mutually  repel- 
ling each  other,"  leaving  no  middle  ground  for 
the  great  mass  of  the  colored  people  or  mulattoes, 
whom,  as  some  say,  "God  did  not  make."  In- 
stead of  such  impiety,  and  in  place  of  sending  one- 
half  of  the  colored  people  to  establistf  black  na- 
tionalities in  Africa,  leaving  the  other  half  to  be 
absorbed  by  the  whites,  I  think  it  is  much  more 
liberal  to  regard  them  as  one  people,  the  political 
destiny  of  whom  is  unknown,  or  at  best  but  begun 
to  be  discerned.  To  divide  the  colored  people  at 
this  late  day  by  any  such  process,  would  seem  to 
me  like  splUling  a  child  in  twain,  in  order  to  give 
one  half  to  its  mother  and  the  other  to  its  father. 
7  go  for  a  colored  nalionalilji,  that  shall  divide  the 


176  APPENDIX. 

continent  with  the  whit<!s,  and  the  two  empires  be- 
ing known  respectively  as  Anglo-American  and 
Anglo- African . 

In  conclusion,  I  desire  to  return  my  thanks  for 
the  complimentary  manner  in  which  the  preceding 
communications  have  been  received;  and  I  would 
fain  hope  they  might  be  as  favorably  regarded 
now  that  they  are  presented  in  this  present  form. 

How  proudly  will  the  colored  race  honor  that 
day,  when,  abandoning  a  policy  which  teaches 
them  to  cling  to  the  skirts  of  the  white  people  for 
support,  tliey  shall  set  themselves  zealously  at 
work  to  create  a  position  of  their  own — an  empire 
which  shall  challenge  the  admiration  of  the  world, 
rivalling  the  glory  of  their  historic  ancestors, 
whose  undying  fame  was  clironicled  by  the  ever- 
lasting pyramids  at  the  dawn  of  civilization  upon 
mankind. 

"  Hope  of  the  world  !  the  rising  race 
May  heaven  with  fostering  love  embrace  ; 
And,  turning  to  a  whiter  page, 
Commence  with  them  a  better  age ; 
An  age  of  light  and  joy,  which  we, 
Alas  !  in  prospect  only  see." 


APPENDIX.  177 


OPINIONS   OF    DISTINOUlSnED    STATESMEN   AND    PHILANTHROPISTS. 

"  My  proposition  is  sim  ply  to  provide  for  the  peaceful  emi- 
gration of  all  those  free  colored  persons  of  African  descent 
who  may  desire  so  to  emigrate  to  some  place  in  Central  or 
South  America.  ...  I  beUeve  the  time  has  ripened  for 
the  execution  of  the  plan  originated  by  Jefferson  in  his  day, 
agreed  in  by  Madison  and  Monroe  and  all  the  earlier  and  bet- 
ter statesmen  of  the  Republic,  both  North  and  South. — Speech 
of  Senator  Doolittle. 

"Instead,  therefore,  of  being  an  expense  to  the  nation,  the 
foundation  of  such  a  colony  would  be  the  grandest  commer- 
cial enterprise  of  the  age 

"  Are  the  young  merchants  of  Boston  and  of  America  indif- 
ferent to  an  enterprise  wliicli  would  give  to  our  commerce, 
without  a  rival,  such  an  empire  as  that  to  which  I  have 
pointed? — an  empire  not  to  be  won  by  cruelty  and  conquest, 
but  by  peaceful  and  benignant  means,  and  by  imparting  to 
others  the  inestimable  blessings  of  hberty  which  we  enjoy, 
and  removing  from  our  midst  the  only  cause  which  threatens 
the  prosperity  and  stability  of  the  Union  .  .  ." — Speech 
of  Hon.  F.  P.  Blair,  Boston. 

"It  is  my  intention  to  use  every  effort  to  give  practical 
effect  to  the  propositions  submitted  to  Congress,  and  I  believe 
that  the  colored  people  themselves  can  give  very  efficient  aid 
in  the  matter.  If  they  will  only  let  it  be  known  that  they 
approve,  and  are  themselves  willing  to  act  upon  the  proposi- 
tion, it  will  give  it  a  great  impulse." — Hon.  F.  P.  Blair — Let- 
ter to  J.  D.  Harris. 

"The  only  mode  in  which  wc  can  relieve  our  country, 
relieve  the  blacks  and  white.*,  and  provide  separate  homes  for 


178  AI'FKNIJIX. 

them,  is  by  some  scheme  which  will  vi,eet  the  approbation  of 
hath — one  which  the  parties  themselves  will  execute." — Hon.  Pres- 
ton King. 

"  Among  all  feasible  things,  there  is  nothing  that  in  my 
judgment  would  so  much  promote  a  peaceful  abolition  of 
slavery  as  your  son's  plan." — Hon.  Oerrit  Smith  to  F.  P- 
Blair,  Sen. 

"  The  feeling  of  the  free  blacks  in  relation  to  African 
colonization  is  no  criterion  by  which  to  judge  of  the  success 
of  American  intertropical  emigration.  ...  I  am  confi- 
dent that  with  proj)er  inducements  to  be  held  out  before  them 
in  regard  to  security  of  liberty  and  property,  and  prospects 
for  well-doing,  I  could  muster  two  hundred  emigrant  families 
or  about  one  thousand  colored  persons  annually  for  the  next 
five  years,  of  the  very  best  class  for  colonial  settlement  and 
industry,  firom  various  parts  of  the  United  States  and  Canada, 
who  would  gladly  embark  for  homes  in  our  Ajperican  tropics." 
—Rev.  J.  T.  Holly. 

To  the  above  might  be  added  the  views  and  opinions  of 
many  of  the  most  eminent  men  in  Ohio,  Missouri,  lUinois, 
Maryland,  and  other  States,  among  them  the  Hon.  Mr.  Bates, 
and  Sam'l  T.  Glover,  Esq.,  of  St.  Louis.  But  none  seem  more 
appropriate  to  close  this  volume  than  the  following  from  tlie 
Rev.  Dr.  Duffield,  of  Detroit. 

Detroit,  Feb.  18,  1860. 
Dear  Bro.  Kendall: — 

Allow  me  to  commend  to  your  attention  the  object  in 
which  ^Ir.  Harris  has  embai'ked.  I  think  very  favorably  of 
it  on  various  grounds,  but  regard  it  as  especially  indicative  of 
God's  providential  designs  in  relation  to  the  introduction  of 
the  gospel  into  that  portion  of  our  Aniericau  continent  which 


APPENDIX.  179 

has  attracted  our  attention,  and  which  led  yourself  with  me 
to  memorialize  the  General  Assembly  on  the  subject  of  com- 
mencing a  system  of  missions  in  Mexico,  Central  and  South- 
ern America.  I  had  intended  writing  to  you  on  the  subject 
with  a  view  to  the  prosecution  of  the  matter  of  our  memori- 
al next  spring,  when  the  Assembly  meets  at  Pittsburg.  I 
know  not,  nor  can  I  learn,  what  has  been  done  in  pursuance 
of  the  action  of  the  last  General  Assembly.  The  whole  mat- 
ter as  reported  I  failed  to  understand,  and  have  since  had  no 
light  shed  upon  the  subject.  May  not  this  movement  prove 
an  opcasion,  if  not  of  connection  to  the  mission,  of  bespeak- 
ing a  deeper  interest  in  behalf  of  our  benighted  populations  of 
Central  and  Southern  America  than  has  yet  been  felt  by  and 
in  our  country.     .     .     . 

Truly  Yours, 

Geo.  Duffield. 

Rev.  Dr.  Kendall,  of  Pittsburg,  Pa. 


>l: 


v^ 


58  00488  59 


UC  SOUTHERN  RfGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACIL'TY 


III    I  II!  III!!   I' mil  II  I!  I  III  I  l!ll! 

AA    001  161  581    2 


Ta^^ 


